"That government is best which governs least." This is the introductory line to Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience." Thoreau, born in 1854 in Massachusetts received his education at Harvard and then became a schoolteacher in the town of Concord. He was a simple man who liked to explore nature and the habits of birds and animals in the woods. Thoreau's associations with Ralph Waldo Emerson and the teachings of the Transcendental Club are well known. His essay Civil Disobedience puts forward ideas of passive resistance, which were later, more fully explored and effected by Gandhi. (Encarta) According to these ideas, people practicing civil disobedience break the law because they consider it unjust and they want to call attention to its injustice. By doing so, they hope to bring about its repeal or amendment. They are also willing to accept any penalty, such as imprisonment, for breaking the law. At one point in the essay Thoreau plainly declares, "All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it." This paper seeks to present arguments on whether or not voting is like gaming and then takes those arguments to their natural conclusion.
In order to present this argument, it is important to fully understand and realize the circumstances under which Thoreau wrote this essay. The essay is clearly written in the context of the abolition of slavery movement and the Mexican War. Under these circumstances, a lot of the people may have felt that government policies regarding the issues was wrong but they were not really willing to negate them. This is why Thoreau says that when the majority does vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be "because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote." In his opinion, a man voting under such circumstances was only "feebly expressing his desire" for right to prevail.
