How Does Civil Disobedience Affect Society

According to the dictionary definition, peaceful resistance is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, or other methods, without using violence. As we have all seen, civil disobedience has made a positive impact on free societies. Throughout our history, we have had many instances when peaceful resistance protests have occurred. These protests helped make positive changes to the societies around them. According to Henry David Thoreau, civil disobedience is an act of willful resistance achieved by not abiding by the laws which he claimed to be hypocritical. Civil disobedience has changed societies many times by movements such as

Henry David Thoreau stopped paying his taxes in 1842 to protest against slavery. He also wrote in his essay “Civil Disobedience” his disapproval on the war against Mexico that the U.S. declared in 1846 and stated his stance by saying “In fact, I quietly declare war with the State….” Thoreau was the man who inspired many others with his acts of civil disobedience such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement during Britain’s rule in India and leader of the Salt March against Britain. Gandhi helped India gain its independence from Britain by making them realize that Gandhi was a force to be reckoned with due to his persistence. Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement and helped organize the March on Washington in 1963 to end segregation in public schools, to establish a law preventing racial discrimination in employment, and to protect the civil rights workers from police brutality. King helped change America’s society by putting an end to segregation and racial discrimination through his civil disobedience and speeches. These three men and many others like them helped change free societies for the