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Henry David Thoreau's Resistance To Civil Disobedience

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What is the price you are willing to pay for your so called “freedom”? Is it worth being silenced and having to obey unjust laws? People like Mahatma Gandhi, David Thoreau, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Waldo Emerson and Bernie Sanders have shown their thoughts against the prejudiced by preaching and showing examples of civil disobedience. The term civil disobedience means “refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest.” Theories on this term have been around for a long time. These important people in history have discussed this theory from their own personal viewpoints and have inspired many others to fight for their rights. Though they all have their own reasons on why they practiced …show more content…

One on Henry David Thoreau’s most famous essay is greatly viewed as a historical protest. In Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government’’ commonly known as ‘’Civil Disobedience’’ from his long work entitled, Walden. Thoreau had serious problems with the way the United States was run. In protest, Thoreau refused to pay taxes. Thoreau then spend the night in jail for his offense, refusing to pay taxes, in 1848, and was released the next morning when a friend paid his tax dept. The following year he decided to write an essay on the topic, “Civil Disobedience” and was published to the public as a political stand. Thoreau argued, “It is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong.” Thoreau believed it’s the people’s duty to refuse to support the government to seek improvement. Thoreau was a true believer in standing up for what is right, stating, “Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.’’ Thoreau would rather go to jail then to argue to the power of the government. Henry also stated, “The states is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is strongest.’’ Thoreau made this statement making it clear, the government will not be superior to

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