Civil Disobedience and Peaceful Resistance
Civil disobedience and peaceful resistance were the crux of Henry David Thoreau's beliefs and those beliefs abide to influence today’s activists. Thoreau did not believe that we shouldn’t have a government, just a better, more improved and less involved government. Thoreau said "I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least, and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically"(Thoreau). He also believed if the government would not improve, then its our duty to refuse to obey it. Thoreau wrote, "but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support"(Thoreau). Thoreau believed that if the laws were
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against one’s conscience, then one does not have to obey those laws.
He also wrote, “A wise man will not leave justice to the chance of a majority vote. The majority will end up voting their interest, voting for what will benefit them. A principled person must follow his conscience” ( Civil Disobedience). He believed that people should do what they believe is the right thing to do, and if a person does find the law to be unjust then that person has an obligation to decline the government's law and distance oneself as a whole from the government. Thoreau believed that no one person is obligated to allocate his whole life to annihilating evils from the world, but he is obligated to not engage in the evils( Civil Disobedience ). Thoreau was convinced that anyone could not see how bad the government really was if they were working for it. Thoreau saw it as hypocritical if a person praised a soldier for refusing to fight, but then paying the taxes that sustains it. Thoreau was very big individualist; he wanted to fight what he believed, but didn’t want to have anyone else do it for him. Thoreau wrote, "If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them
sitting on another man's shoulders"( Civil Disobedience). He believed that any person wanted to be an activist had to do it on his own. “Activism is a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue”(Merriam-Webster). Activism does not necessarily mean violently revolting or causing an uprising. Activism is fighting for what a person believe in and what he or she believes to be right in his or her mind, but doing it in a manner of peaceful resistance. This is exactly what Henry David Thoreau wanted people to do. There are many ways activists get their beliefs , what they're fighting for, and their opinions through to people, but there are two acts of rebellion that, because of Henry David Thoreau, have become worldly used. Civil disobedience, peaceful resistance, and activism goes hand in hand. Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, but in a peaceful way. Peaceful resistance is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, and economic or political noncooperation. Thoreau was an activist against the Mexican-American war and slavery. He didn’t agree with either one of them. Thoreau saw the Mexican-American war as an act of American aggression. Thoreau didn’t see slavery as a “necessary evil”; he simply saw it as unjust. So Thoreau took action on what he believed and done something about it. Thoreau himself has shown that he practices what he preaches. Thoreau wrote, "The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right"( Thoreau). In 1848, Thoreau was arrested for not paying a taxpoll ( Brownlee ) He spent one night in jail and was released the next day because a friend paid his tax for him. The friend did this against Thoreau's pleas not to. Thoreau saw his act of civil disobedience as disassociating himself with the government. Thoreau was an outspoken opponent of slavery. In the 1850’s he worked for the underground railroad, in Concord, to help end slavery( Brownlee). Thoreau also ideologically detached himself from the government, which means he refused to participate in anything having to do with the government. Thoreau refused to not only pay taxes, but also to vote. Thoreau himself said that voting was about the majority voting their interests, what would benefit them as an individual. Not only was Thoreau’s acts of civil disobedience straight forward, but he also set off a long line of dominoes in the history of peaceful resistance. Henry David Thoreau has influenced many people with his courageous activism. Thoreau wrote, "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? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ, and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?" (Weitlauf). Martin Luther King Jr. who led the U.S. civil rights movement used Thoreau’s belief that if a person didn’t like the laws that were forced upon him then he has every right to go and change them. Martin Luther King Jr. led many peaceful resistances such as the Montgomery bus boycott and even wrote a book describing his acts of peaceful resistances. Not only did Martin Luther King Jr. use the beliefs of Thoreau for fighting for his rights but he also accepted the non-violent methods his personal life ( Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.). Rosa Parks also showed peaceful resistance by refusing to give up her seat to a white man on the bus in 1955. Another person who was influenced by Thoreau was Mohandas Gandhi who led the resistance of British rule in India. Gandhi started a march to the sea in protest of the British tax monopoly on salt. This march was one of Gandhi’s biggest acts of civil disobedience(Gandhi Leads Civil Disobedience). A very well known acts of civil disobedience is the anti-abortion protest. This act makes it illegal to get an abortion and will cause abortion clinics to close for good. Another well known act of peaceful resistance is the animal’s rights movement prevents cruelty to animals and give the animals the rights they are believed to deserve. The environmental movement tries to cut pollution and make more environmentally friendly laws. Also, the resistance to apartheid in South Africa was a battle of people fighting to get their rights and land back. They all believed the law was unjust. Instead of complaining or just going with it, they fought back. Still to this day very many people use Thoreau’s beliefs as a map to get what they need from their government. One of the biggest protests is gay marriage, which has been an ongoing act of back and forth. One group is fighting to have it legalized and another group wants it to be illegal. Some states have now legalized gay marriage. Another act of peaceful resistance is the student walk-out in Colorado. The students did not agree with the curriculum promoting patriotism but that avoids the topic of civil disobedience all together. It was not only the students to get offended by the curriculum’s decision to leave civil disobedience out ,but also some teachers and the parents of the students joined in the disagreement. The students, teachers, and some parents together made signs to show their support for civil disobedience. These students realize that without the knowledge of civil disobedience, Americans are at a disadvantage at protecting themselves from the wrongs of their government. Henry David Thoreau refined America and helped many others, who have changed the world, find a non-violent way to fight for the rights people deserve.
Thoreau talks about the politics, power and civil disobedience in his works. He believed that when many thought alike, the power was stronger within that minority. I think that Thoreau's intention was to point out that those people who dare to go against what seems to be unjust and go against the majority, and stand erect, are the people who transform society as a whole.
In “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau claims that men should act from their conscience. Thoreau believed it was the duty of a person to disobey the law if his conscience says that the law is unjust. He believed this even if the law was made by a democratic process. Thoreau wrote that a law is not just, only because the majority votes for it. He wrote, “Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?” (Thoreau, P. 4). Thoreau wanted a government in the United States that would make the just laws based on conscience, because the people of the country would not let the elected representatives be unfair. Thoreau did not think people can disobey any law when they want to. He believed that people should obey just laws; however, Thoreau thought that not all laws were right, and he wrote that a man must obey what is right, not what is the law: “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right” (Thoreau, P. 4).
To conclude, Thoreau believed that people should be ruled by conscience and that people should fight against injustice through non-violence according to “Civil Disobedience.” Besides, he believed that we should simplify our lives and take some time to learn our essence in the nature. Moreover, he deemed that tradition and money were unimportant as he demonstrated in his book, Walden. I suggested that people should learn from Thoreau to live deliberately and spend more time to go to the nature instead of watching television, playing computer games, and among other things, such that we could discover who we were and be endeavored to build foundations on our dreams.
Throughout modern American culture certain laws passed by the majority have been considered unjust by a wise minority. However, with the logical and emotional appeal of hard fought battles, voices have been heard, and the minds of the majority can sometimes be converted to see the truth. Thoreau, after spending a night in jail and seeing the truth hidden behind the propaganda of the majority, became convinced that he could no longer accept his government’s behavior of passing laws that benefit the majority with degrading the minority. It’s quite ironic that by the government imprisoning Thoreau he became freer then ever before. He was able to see how the government turned peaceably inclined men into controllable machines. Thoreau saw how the government dealt with its citizens as only a body, while completely disregarding the sense, intellect, and moral beliefs of its people. In his essay “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau stated that “a government ruled by majority in all cases cannot be based on justice.” He further believed that “under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also prison.” This point made by Thoreau can be seen as the truth throughout history. A just man never sits by quietly watching the majority degrade the minority to suit their own immoral purposes. Like Thoreau, another just man who stood out from the quiet minority was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King was, as well, willing to suffer for his views to put an end to racial segregation, and was arrested on numerous occasions for holding strong in his believes and spreading his message throughout the minds of all God’s children. King often cited conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and disobeying unjust ones. In an essay written by King titled “A letter from Birmingham Jail,” King clearly defines the interpretation of the differerence between the two kinds of laws. “An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is a difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.” To further understand this King quotes from St. Augustine himself who once stated “any law that uplifts human personality is just.
In Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, he writes about why citizens should disobey government’s unjust laws. The American government was established to execute people’s wills, and this should not be forgotten. Citizens who totally rely on government believe that government symbolizes honesty, justice, rights and protection. In this way, citizens will comply with all the laws which the government formulates without thinking whether they are right or not. However, while the time is changing, government has been changing its morality principal. For example, some high level governors might misuse government’s right for individual interest. Also, Henry David Thoreau argues that the American government uses the excuse of benefiting
Henry David Thoreau starts Civil Disobedience with “I heartily accept the motto— “That government is best which governs the least,” and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically” (para. 1). The impression that I got when I read this first sentence is that he had some issues with how the government works. His statement, “That government is best which governs not at all,” somehow sent me an impression that he does not want a government when in fact he just does not want how the government is structured so he calls for its reformation. He explained how a few individuals get to use a standing government as a tool to grab land from Mexico during the Mexican War. I think what he is trying to convey about the government
In Chavez's argument, he explained the importance of nonviolence during the Civil Rights Movement. He used Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s movement as an example of successful protest using nonviolence. Although Dr. King's example proved to be effective, after he died, several members of the movement resorted to violence which caused the death of thousands of Americans. Chavez argued nonviolence is the only way to protest violence in order to attract support for his cause: the farm workers' movement. Chavez's rhetorical choices, through his tone and allusion to history, effectively influenced farmers to protest without violence.
Henry David Thoreau in his essay “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau asserts that men should react from their conscience. Thoreau believed it was the duty of a person to defy the law if his conscience says that the law is unjust. He believed this even if the law was made by a democratic action. Thoreau
Thoreau claims the government has failed to bring any development in the country. For instance, it has failed in keeping the country free, has not educated the nation or settled the west. But he claims the American citizens are the one who have done what the nation has accomplished. Thoreau states that he calls for at once better government, but not for at once no government. To get an ideal government according to Thoreau, the citizens should be asked what kind of government that commands their
Thoreau starts off his work by highlighting his acceptance of the motto "the government is best which governs the least", president-elect Donald Trump has made many claims that would call for him changing many of the systems set in place in the United States, giving the
Thoreau begins his essay by stating “That government is best which governs not at all” (1). This statement sums up most of Thoreau’s overall view on government: that it would be better off nonexistent. Although he understands that this ideal, no-government situation is impossible or nearly impossible to exist, Thoreau makes many points to back up his idea of the perfect society.
Thoreau argues that the United States is an unjust government, and professes that people should always fight for what they know is just. He also believes in never obeying anything they do not believe in. Thoreau compares the government to a “wooden gun to the people themselves”
While it is true both Thoreau and King believe that individuals should do what they believe is right according to their beliefs and that it is equally appropriate to refuse unjust government rule, they both have contrast between the ways they are seen in the eyes of the government. While King stated that there should be some sort of governmental guidance, Thoreau said that society should take it upon themselves to function without a government. Thoreau was unsure of the effectiveness of reform within a government and based on the judgement of his own experiences, he was able to argue that petitioning for change achieves very little. These petitions led to their somewhat different views toward breaking unjust laws. Thoreau stated that 'if the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go', and he complemented this idea by saying that if the law 'is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then... break the law'.
Envision marching on the capital for something that can affect the whole country.Now Imagine doing this without harming anyone or any type of violent action,That's what civil disobedience is. The exact definition of civil disobedience is “ a peaceful form of political protest. Civil disobedience ideals are not that radical and it has been around for many years.These are just some examples we have seen thorough the ages. “The declaration of independence”, “Non Violent resistance” (Gandhi),and “A letter from the birmingham jail”(MLK) all show many examples of civil disobedience.
My thesis and argument is that civil disobedience is a beneficial technique for people to express and potentially receive what they want. In addition to MLK, even if it’s not necessary for negotiation, I believe that civil disobedience helps people make positive changes within their society. MLK thought that civil disobedience was sometimes necessary for creating the conditions of negotiations. He believed that the government would not know that people have issues with the laws if they did not protest. Civil disobedience in a society is a way for minorities to be heard within their society. It causes more attention than some other forms of protests, and therefore the protesters have a higher chance of being heard. If people do not protest,