henry david thoreau and civil disobedience

Today, his actions of over a century ago provide an example for those who refuse to pay military taxes. A transcendentalist classic on social responsibility and a manifesto that inspired modern protest movements Critical of 19th-century America’s booming commercialism and industrialism, Henry David Thoreau moved to a small cabin in the woods of Concord, Massachusetts in 1845.

3Īs we will see later in this course, Thoreau’s essay and its principles became a source of inspiration for many peace movements that followed, such as the salt march led by Gandhi in India, the lunch counter protests of the civil rights movement in the U.S., and resistance movements of the Second World War. Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?.

going to jail is a positive thing because it draws attention to the bad law and thus hopefully brings about its repeal also, if lots of people go to jail, they will clog the machinery of state.

if one violates the law of the land, one must be willing to take the consequences, to the point of going to jail and Thoreau begins Civil Disobedience by explaining that governments are prone to abusing power, and that it is best for governments to govern as little as possible.

when these come into conflict, it is a person’s duty to obey the higher law and disobey the civil law.

the law of individual conscience is higher than the law of the land.

The word civil had two meanings here: as in disobedience to civil authority, but also that disobedience should be polite or courteous.

What do you think was the meaning of Thoreau’s response?Īfter this experience, Thoreau wrote an essay about a citizen’s relation to the state and titled it Civil Disobedience.

Henry david thoreau and civil disobedience