More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of civil disobedience
The importance of civil disobedience
The importance of civil disobedience
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Civil disobedience is the act of disobeying governmental commands in a peaceful, non-violent, form of protest. Throughout history, peaceful protest have had a positive impact on free society. Peaceful protest have had the biggest impact during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, many people have led non-violent protest for their rights, including well known African-American Activist, Martin Luther King Jr.. He was most famously known for his speech, I Have a Dream.
Civil disobedience is an effective method for fighting injustice by the way it incentivizes conversation and indirectly
It ensures that one's voice is heard without throwing a temper tantrum or bringing on the destruction of other things or people. And it also ensures that we do not go on silently, always bitterly muttering to ourselves about how we wish things would change, but never gathering up enough courage or motivation to actually change these things. Civil Disobedience is an act of peaceful disagreement, a protest which does no harm to others but which one hopes will bring about a change which one believes is good. Now as far as the impact that civil disobedience has on a free society, I believe that it is a positive one. My reasons being that civil disobedience encourages one to use their rights to voice their opinions in a non-violent way.
Some wonder what Civil Disobedience is and what it is all about. Civil Disobedience is an effective, selfacknowledged denial to obey certain laws, requirements and orders of the government or an occupying worldwide power. Around in 1846 a man named Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay over Civil Disobedience. He wrote this while he sent the night in jail because he had failed to pay 6 years worth of delinquent poll taxes(Resistance to Civil Government) . He would bicker with the people saying he couldn’t pay the funds that helped to assist the US government 's war with Mexico, nor could he pay a government that still allowed slavery in its Southern states.
Throughout history, people had many views of how the US government should be followed or not. We had Samuel Adams who supported that inhabitants must follow the government and people like Thomas Paine and Henry David Thoreau who supported that the government must follow the people. Civil disobedience also comes to mind when defying the government. People question if it 's safe or not or whether it is allowed because of the consequences. These three historical figures each has a different perspective how the government should be handled.
Civil disobedience is the refusal of something in a friendly manner. Politically, America is in a rough situation. America as a whole is slowly separating as a nation. For instance, African-Americans believe they are experiencing prejudice from “white” people. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana there a revolt organized by the infamous “Black Lives Matter” organization.
I consider civil disobedience to be an easily-ignored pillar upon which our democracy was founded. In fact we are only established as a nation now because our founding fathers engaged in civil disobedience themselves. We were in a “social contract” of sorts with Great Britain and when we felt that they had not upheld their part of the contract (they did not allow us to create courts to maintain order, or to create a navy to defend ourselves, or to sustain our economy due to an inability to trade with any other countries), Thomas Jefferson concluded that it was our not only our right, but also our duty to break away. And it was Thomas Jefferson that combined all of the works of the great thinkers before him such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke
However, it could also be argued that civil disobedience is beneficial to ridding a society of unjust law. If there is law, you have a duty as a citizen to obey the law or you may try to convince those in charge to change them. If using civil disobedience is a method of convincing others to change unjust law, civil disobedience must be unjust. If it is true that being a citizen of a society binds you to obeying the laws, and civil disobedience is an act which breaks the law, then it is not just for
Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is defined as, the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes. Henry David Thoreau gives a complete rundown of civil disobedience in his book, Civil Disobedience. In “Letter From Birmingham City Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr., he talks about how he was put in jail for peaceful protesting “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps..” (King), which is part of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience can be necessary in certain circumstances.
Civil disobedience is a justifiable method to making changes in laws or acts. Many people risk the little freedom they have left to have even more. People like Martin Luther King jr. and Thoreau changed laws for standing up for what they believe in. If you had the chance to change something you disagree about, wouldn't you want to change it.
People's justification to engage in civil disobedience rests on the unresponsiveness that their engagement to oppose an unjust law receives. People who yearn for a change in a policy might sometimes find themselves in a dead end because their “attempts to have the laws repealed have been ignored and legal protests and demonstrations have had no success” (Rawls 373). What Rawls says is that civil disobedience is a last option to oppose an unjust law; therefore, providing civil disobedients with a justification for their cause. Civil disobedience is the spark of light that people encountered at the dead end and they hope that this spark of light will illuminate to show that an unjust law should not exist at all. Martin Luther King, Jr, in his “Letter from
For some people, times come where complacency is unjust, and disobedience is the long sought answer. Ever since Trump began his campaign promising a wall alongside our southern border people have been in strict opposition of all of his efforts. Starting in 2015, Trump began his journey with great concern for immigration, putting specific emphasis on controlling the border to Mexico. Trump’s means for control was erecting a wall which would slow, or ultimately cease illegal border crosses. This idea of his, sparked such an outrage!
If in civil disobedience the person doing accepts the punishment, it will encourage people to start breaking laws just make a point when there are various and better ways to make a point. Breaking laws will do nothing for what people want because it will just get the government mad and they will make different laws and make worse punishments for the people, therefore not helping a free society. The act of civil disobedience demonstrates selfishness by a person or group of people. By breaking a law it shows that people will do anything to get what they want even if it doesn’t benefit anyone but themselves. Also for thing a person is fighting for or trying to prove there are opposite views on that idea.
Civil disobedience is nonviolent resistance to a government’s law in seek of change. Civil disobedience is an effective way to bring about change because it is a harmless way of fighting an unjust law or idea, it can educate people about the cause, and it has been successful many times in history. First and foremost, civil disobedience is
The textbook definition of civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. We have seen throughout history the many acts of civil disobedience and it has come in many forms. From the Boston Tea party where the Americans dumped chests of tea into Boston harbor to go against British rule, to the more recent #Me too movement marches to get awareness for victims of sexual abuse. Looking through these events in history I argue that civil disobedience has helped us progress through the years. Civil disobedience should be encouraged to make societal progress although it should not be the first option.
