Civil Disobedience, By Henry David Thoreau

During the mid 1800s, the United States of America began to develop a distinct culture. This culture was developed as the nation became fully independent and lost most ties to European countries, and a key part of the newly formed American culture appeared within the rise of American Romanticism. This movement, centered upon intellect and deeper thinking, spread its reaches throughout a plethora of topics meant to get humans to expand their minds. Authors during this period wrote about death and the afterlife, about horror and dark realities, and about reality and what should change in society during the time period.

The beliefs of the afterlife up to this time period were most likely extremely similar. In a world dominated by Christian

By using essays and stories, this time period led people to disagree with some government practices and social problems. Henry David Thoreau expressed his frustration with big government in an essay commonly known as “Civil Disobedience.” This essay was a result of being jailed due to a failure to pay a poll tax. He only spent one night in jail, but being jailed was enough to strike a nerve within Thoreau to write this influential essay. Thoreau writes, “I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves Abolitionists- should at once effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts.” Thoreau mentions the Abolitionists, the people fighting slavery, should actually withdraw their support of government. Thoreau encourages the citizens to refuse to pay taxes used for immoral purposes. At this time, that purpose was slavery. Thoreau did not reject all government, saying, “I have never declined paying the highway tax, because I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject; and as for supporting schools.” This quote shows that Thoreau does support being taxed for good reasons, such as improving infrastructure or schools. Because he believes that these reasons are morally correct, he obliges to pay these taxes. The acceptance of government was a key point for Thoreau to include. He did not want the people to reject government; instead, he urged the people to reject the poll tax. This essay was a way for Thoreau to influence the people of his time to fight the government without violence. This nonviolent protest against government influenced Gandhi’s protests within India and Martin Luther King James Jr.’s campaign within the United States. This essay is arguably the most important essay that changed the way protests worked around the world, as many of the tactics have been used in history and still are used