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Civil Disobedience by Thoreau

            
             In Thoreau's essay, "Civil Disobedience", he exhorts the need to prioritize social consciousness over the unquestioning allegiance to government policy. In essence, "Civil Disobedience" could arguably be touted as the quintessential rallying cry for the pioneers of a new social conscious movement. .
             Thoreau's essay argues that a government proves itself of little value if it obtains its power to govern from the majority of the masses solely on the basis that they are the strongest group. He contends that a citizen's first obligation is to cling to his or her own belief of what is right and not blindly follow the law dictated by the majority. In addition, Thoreau also believes that when a government is unjust, people should detachment themselves from its control and make it their civic-minded duty to avoid membership in any such unjust institution. Thoreau further laments that United States clearly fits his criteria for an unjust government, given its support of slavery and its practice of military aggression.
             Thoreau continues his essay by revealing his skepticism on whether governmental reform by itself has any chance of making a difference and argues that voting and petitioning for change rarely achieves the desired goal of its participants. According to Thoreau, protest in the form of separation as opposed to reformation is preferred as the only means of securing social and political change.
             Thoreau's position is summarized in a single rebellious act: in protest of slavery, Thoreau refuses to pay taxes and spends a night in jail. His fond account of his incarceration, as chronicled in "Civil Disobedience", idealizes his argument for severing ties with government and further exemplifies the civic responsibility of those oppressed by it laws to reframe from participation in it's institutions. .
             A critical look at Thoreau's, Civil Disobedience initially reveals the authors effective mixture of poetry and social commentary.


Essays Related to Civil Disobedience by Thoreau

1. Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay entitled "Civil Disobedience" in which he explained his reasons for not paying taxes to a government fighting an unjust war. Although Thoreau and Luther both agree on the act of civil disobedience, there is one author, Louis Waldman, who wrote an article entitled "Civil Rights-Yes: Civil Disobedience-No". ... In Thoreau's essay entitled "Civil Disobedience", he explains his reason for not paying taxes to a government that was involved in an unjust war with Mexico. ... Board of Education was not settled by civil disobedience, but by peaceful appeals. ...

  • Word Count: 1738
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

In "Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau argues that individuals of good conscience should actively face unreasonable government policies through nonviolent means, such as denying to pay taxes. ... Thoreau uses several different rhetorical techniques throughout his work in Civil Disobedience. ... A great example of Thoreau using pathos is when he is talking about why his cell mate was in jail. ... This correlates to Thoreau depicting the government as excessive and unfair. Thoreau's main thoughts in this part of Civil Disobedience are noticeably present in his writing through the use...

  • Word Count: 530
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Why is Civil Discobedience Necessary?

Although many would point Henry David Thoreau as the father of civil disobedience, since he was the first person using the term when in 1848 he wrote "Resistance to Civil Government," there is existent records that show that civil disobedience has been around for a long time. ... Carried by the motto "that government is best which governs least,"[Thoreau] Henry David Thoreau, defines "Civil Disobedience" as "a pacific act of willful resistance, achieved by not obeying laws he considers to be unmoral and unjust [Thoreau].... What does Thoreau, and Goldman with their re...

  • Word Count: 1587
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Thoreau - Civil Disobedience, Walden, and Walking

Vince Tarkanian English 1A Poet Research Essay July 8, 2014 Analysis of Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience", "Walden", and "Walking" Henry David Thoreau said of himself "I am a Schoolmaster – a Private Tutor, a Surveyor – a Gardener, a Farmer – a Painter, I mean a House Painter, a Carpenter, a Mason, a Day-Laborer, a Pencil-Maker, a Glass-paper Maker, a Writer, and sometimes a Poetaster (The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau 186). ... The issue of slavery would divide the country and throw it into civil war. ... A few years later, one ...

  • Word Count: 2159
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Civil Disobedience

This is the introductory line to Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience." ... 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. ... In my opinion, Thoreau's position is quite clear and understandable. ...

  • Word Count: 946
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6. Civil Disobedience

However, without the essay "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau, who knows how these people would have succeeded in their causes. Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey the law in order to change something one believes is wrong, usually through nonviolent passive means. ... Civil disobedience has become a popular form of protest since the time of Thoreau. ... "Civil Disobedience" was Thoreau's attempt to teach people that it was possible for one to fight injustice through nonviolent ways and actually accomplish something for his or her cause. Thoreau has succeeded...

  • Word Count: 1470
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Civil Disobedience and Letter From a Birmingham Jail

Unjust laws and unjust governmental systems are a common theme in Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience and Martin Luther King's Letter From A Birmingham Jail. In Civil Disobedience Thoreau clarifies that following an unjust law is a violation of ones conscience. ... King notes that civil disobedience is necessary for the case of the city of Birmingham. ... Thoreau's time period was much more unruly than the civil rights era for African Americans, even though blacks were treated so harshly in southern towns in the late fifties and early sixties. ... This explains the m...

  • Word Count: 446
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Influences of Civil Disobedience

Thoreau, the Transcendentalist author of Civil Disobedience, published in 1849 influenced a number of people that shared his views on social justice. ... Both written works reflected the powerful ideas of Henry David Thoreau's, Civil Disobedience. ... Only when black people in the South pushed themselves into view, brought public attention by acts of civil disobedience, did the government finally respond.... "(14) Howard Zinn's rhetorical questions express how Thoreau's ideas reflect on himself, but he also explains in his writing how Thoreau's Civil Disobedience influ...

  • Word Count: 1318
  • Approx Pages: 5
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9. Thoreau

(Thoreau, Walden.) ... From this experience comes the essay Civil Disobedience, in which he tells of the corruption/flaws of the politic system and government, "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? ... (Thoreau, Civil Disobedience.) ... All through his life Thoreau exercises his beliefs in his actions and his writings. ... (Thoreau, Civil Disobedience.) ...

  • Word Count: 436
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

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