Henry David Thoreau's Resistance To Civil Government
Another act where he went against the rules of government is when he refused to get a license in order to kayak down a river. The man in charge told him that he needed to receive a license before they would allow him on the water. McCandless, not having the necessary identifications he needed in order to get a license, rebelled and found a way onto the water anyway. These are the acts that Thoreau finds to be exhilarating. In the final paragraphs of “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau begins to compare the government to a machine.
Throughout the writing of “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau often referred back to his idea that he supported which was “That government is best which governs not at all.” (Thoreau) In the passage, Thoreau believed that the government does not have a conscience. He talked about not wanting to pay the government poll tax, which in result, caused him to be thrown into jail. A poll tax is just a tax on a person for existing, therefore, everyone had to pay the same amount regardless of the value of their possessions.
Thoreau’s essay focuses on his belief that the individual has the right and the duty to protest unjust laws or an unjust government. He even spent the night in jail because he refused to pay the poll tax in order to protest the Mexican American War. Thoreau’s night in jail was the inspiration for his reasoning that “There will never be a really free and enlightened State, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are deviated, and treats him accordingly.” (Thoreau 1872). He believed in the power of the individual as an essential part of the State and that “a single man can bend [the government] to his will.”
Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is a dissertation written by American abolitionist, author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau published by Elizabeth Peabody in the Aesthetic Papers in 1849. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was born and lived almost his life in Concord, Massachusetts. After finishing public and private school in Concord he attended the prestige Harvard University. He excelled at Harvard despite leaving school for several months due to health and financial setbacks. Mr. Thoreau graduated in the top half of his class in 1837.
In the essay “Civil Disobedience,” written by Henry David Thoreau, he stated, “Government is at best an expedient, but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.” This expresses his opinion about the government that controlled America during the mid 1800s. His essay expresses that the government only addresses how to deal with a majority of the population, instead of finding a way to serve individuals. Thoreau’s viewpoint on the government is why he feels the need for resistance. For Thoreau, resistance means doing what a person believes is morally right.
It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." (Jacobus, 306). He argues that it is up to each and every individual to stand up for their own rights and know the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong. As said by Thoreau, by committing acts of civil disobedience or peaceful protests, citizens of the nations are able to have their voice to speak up against the wrongdoings of their own government. They bring attention to the more important issues at hand and allow opinions to be formed, and can thus spark change in society.
2. Thoreau refers to civil disobedience not merely as a right but as a duty to emphasize the need for individual to have the capability to defend their honest thoughts. As it states, “I think we should be men first, and subjects afterwards” (Thoreau 941). Thoreau wishes for the individuals in society to be able to preach their truth, even if it means to display non-conformity to the government expressing unjust laws. 4.
Thoreau, on the other hand, used “Civil Disobedience” to encourage people to stand up to the government. Thoreau encourages people that they should stand up for what they believe in, even if it goes against the majority. “Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?” (Thoreau). Thoreau is not anti-government, instead he wants the U.S. citizen’s thoughts and opinions, to be heard by the government, and wants the government to change and adapt based on their citizens, not the other way
Whereas Thoreau calls civil disobedience a “duty”. Both indicate that civil rebellion is not compulsory, it is a necessity. Throughout his essay, Thoreau only further builds on that idea. He makes his standards clear, stating that in the face of an oppressive government, it is by all means the responsibility of those under said government to revolt against it. He even goes as far as to simplify his speech to assure that everyone thoroughly comprehends his views; creating an analogy saying, “If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing that you are cheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you your due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see that you are never cheated again.”
Thoreau protests in an active way on the one hand, since he renounces the government’s law of taxation, but he does so in a non violent manner. This is precisely why the essay is called “Civil Disobedience”. Libertarianism, hence, advocates individuals to be just towards themselves and towards others by not harming them, to be active by living life consciously, and lastly, it advocates free will versus determinism, since people are free to make their own decisions which are based on their own personal sets of beliefs; “a wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority”. (page 777) In an imaginary society where people would simply confirm to the government’s rules and laws without taking any stand, one could argue that those individuals have no free will and therefore are deterministically bound to obey the government.
He demonstrates that he would be willing to go to jail to fight for an unjust law when he says “Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just a man is also a prison” (14). This quote that he said shows that he believes if the government is being unjust, then a true virtuous person belongs in prison, as a result of fighting for what they believed in. Thoreau shows that he was willing to do whatever it takes, including spending time in a jail cell, to make his disagreements of the law known. Even if there are a great deal of L.G.B.T supporters in the world, how many of them would actually be willing to speak up and fight about a particular issue when the situation has arisen? I agree with Thoreau when he said that “There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man” (8).
Thoreau was strongly against any violent act of protest, but should a person disagree with his/her government, Thoreau would encourage that person to do so in a peaceful manner. Civil disobedience serves the purpose of giving the people a say. For example, Thoreau stated, “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward attaining it“ (Civil
In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau questions, “must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think we should be men first, and subjects afterward”, indicating that man should take more focus on standing up for what is right instead of conforming to what the majority is thinking or what people are being told to think by the government (Thoreau). Thoreau explains that every man has a conscience for a reason, all men are able to generate an opinion on what is right and what is wrong and that men should in a sense “man up” and fight instead of backing down to become slaves to the legislative government. Thoreau gives an example of his non-conformity in Civil Disobedience when he writes about how he stood up against the government by withholding money to pay his taxes.
What Thoreau means by the Civil Disobedience is that every person should be govern more by his own moral compass that gives him much clearer answer to his deeds, rather than some laws of a government. “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think we should be men first, and subjects afterward.” (1)
This citation shows that Thoreau did not want to follow the laws. Thoreau also believed in living life by following moral law and not law stated in the constitution. Thoreau also believed that the government does best if it does not rule over the people. In the essay Civil Disobedience it says “That government is best which governs least”. This shows what Thoreau felt the government should not do.
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