Civil Disobedience: Breaking The Law

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When one disobeys the law, there is naturally a consequence. What happens when people break the law because they consider it unjust? This is civil disobedience and it is questioned to be positively or negatively impacting our society. I believe this is positively impacting our society because it encourages Americans to exercise their freedoms. I believe that civil disobedience is also at times the only way to bring attention to a problem that needs resolution. According to the First Amendment of the United States, Americans have the freedom to protest. If one were to look at America today, he or she can easily find examples of civil disobedience. Currently there are many protests and riots about President Donald Trump's inauguration. These …show more content…

There have been times in the past where problems have occurred but no one does anything about it because it is not well known. An example of this is Gandhi's Salt March. Gandhi was a philosophical teacher and leader who “helped India regain independence and inspired movement for civil rights and freedom across the world” (Gandhi). The Salt March was “an act of civil disobedience led by Mohandas Gandhi” to protest the unfair ruling Britain had over India (Salt March). Britain forced India buy heavily taxed salt from the British and forbid them to collect or sell their own. The Indians believed this was wrong but since they were a poor and suffering country, this issue was going unnoticed by the world and they were helpless. Mohandas Gandhi agreed the overtaxing was unfair and caused the Indians a great deal of suffering. Gandhi set out to the Arabian Sea with dozens of followers on March 12, 1930 “to defy [Britain’s] policy” (Salt March). This issue was finally noticed when “recorded by American journalist Webb Miller [and it] prompted an international outcry against British policy in India” (Salt March). Years later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was “heavily influenced” by Gandhi’s “use of nonviolent civil disobedience” (Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr: Five Examples of Nonviolent, Civil Disobedience Worldwide). Civil disobedience brings attention to problems and leads to solutions. It also has a long lasting effect not only during that time, but also in the

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