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Thoreau And Civil Disobedience

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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) On the first reading of such statement, one can easily agree, but it is unimaginable that it could really work in reality. It would count on every citizen being moral and righteous. Are we really capable of such an honest line of thinking? Is it not in the human nature to try to bend the rules or even go around them? Could we be honest enough to …show more content…

In the eyes of the law, this man is guilty and should be punished. However, is it right for that man to forget about his own conscience and fight in a war he does not see as a just one? Is it right to make him choose between forsaking his wows to the country and his moral responsibility to his conscience? It is my strong belief that even nowadays there are still some unjust laws. The decision than lies in front of every individual, whether to follow the unjust laws, or not. Thoreau would definitely choose the second option and he even urges everyone to follow his example – to be the “counter-friction”, as it fits to his metaphor, where he compares the government to a machine and the injustice as a friction. “For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once done well is done for ever.” …show more content…

It speaks to every individual to look into himself and to think about his deeds as well as about the things he let happened. It is well over a century ago when Thoreau wrote this and many things have changed. On one hand, the question is, if it would be still possible to make a similar stand as Thoreau did. In our time we found a different way to show our revolt. We usually make some small stance to ease up on our conscience, but is it enough just to grab a banner and go into the streets calling out loud? On the other hand, if all of this would be manageable, would it

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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.”

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Within Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, he greatly emphasizes the impact of a government that functions off the consent of the people, whilst in the process putting the people's power and authority above the government’s in an effort to create a truly free State, both of which are still seen within modern society where the government derives no power if it does not have the consent of those it governs, as well as granting its citizens the right to vote and partake in governmental decisions. When Thoreau speaks about how “the authority of government… must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it”, he shows that with the rights the people are given as american citizens,

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Under the circumstance Thoreau describes I do believe that civil disobedience is a duty. However, I think that Thoreau greatly exaggerates the conditions he was in at the time and takes a very narrow view of his setting. I agree with Thoreau's arguments that when the government is to the point of falling apart and harming citizens then people need to revolute against the government. I particularly like his analogy to the friction in the machine, symbolizing that the ends do not justify the means. Furthermore, I think that Thoreau is correct in pointing out how people behave when they notice something is wrong, but take no action to fix it.

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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.

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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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