Roger Williams and Henry Thoreau both have their own, unique ideas of freedom. In some ways, their ideas can be fairly similar. However, they can also be very different. Whether it’s the way they execute how to make an idea become reality, or the way they think about certain problems in general. Williams and Thoreau may have similar ideas, however, they are still two very different people.
Some reasons that Thoreau and Williams viewpoints may be so different could be due to living in such different time periods. In Williams’ era, things were a lot more complicated with laws and religion. Mainly because at the time, the United States didn’t necessarily have a government of its own for Williams’ despise in the first place. And even then, he thought whatever authority that there was should’ve been respected, though he still wrote his passage in hopes to fix the religious issues and lead Americans
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By referring to it as a machine, he may be stating that the government may only work in one way or work in whatever way the creator of the machine see’s that it should work. He could also feel that eventually, the government will break down due to being worn out, much like most machines. Evidence for this is when he states: “If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth, – Certainly the machine will wear out.” Thoreau means that if the government needs injustice and unjust laws, then break all of the laws. That way, if everyone in the country breaks all of the rules, the government will eventually break down. Thoreau also compares the government to a “wooden gun.” By using this comparison, Thoreau is basically saying that the government can show off, but the moment they are put under too much pressure, it will simply break apart, much like a wooden gun would break apart if it were actually ever