Examples Of Individualism In Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience: The Classic that It Is

“Government is best which governs least.” This single quote is the most important line of the essay, and defines why this essay is a classic.“Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau, is Thoreau’s viewpoint on the issues that faced the nation as a whole including the size of the government, on-going wars, and human rights. These problems though are not just facing the nation during his lifetime, but also our life. Thoreau is considered a classic author due to his work in the transcendentalist movement, and his words in “Civil Disobedience” through the style of the essay and the themes of individualism along with calls for a smaller government.

Born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, Thoreau

came into a world full of beauty and nature, but he didn’t start his transcendentalist career until his college years. When he was about to start his career, he attended Harvard College, where Thoreau meet Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both of them became close friends and through that friendship, Emerson introduced Thoreau to the world of writing. Since Emerson’s style of writing was based off nature and transcendentalism, he influenced him on writing that certain style, which enabled Thoreau to be one of the greatest transcendentalist writers. One of his most famous works Thoreau wrote was “Walden,” which tells the story of Thoreau’s decision to seclude himself from society since he wanted to live in the most simplest form (Richardson 1143). Additionally, “Civil Disobedience,” also became one of his most famous works. Even though politics was not the most important thing to him, he was a vocal opponent to wars and slavery, which he was considered to be an abolitionist. Nature has though been something he often talked about in his works since through the influence of Emerson, he would look around himself and write about the beauty of nature (Richardson 1146).
Besides the fact that Thoreau was one of the most known transcendentalist writers, he was not the one that founded the movement. During the time of accent Greece, the philosopher Plato developed it as a philosophy in which a higher reality exist in the knowledge of people. As time went by and the world shifted, so did Transcendentalism. In the 19th century, Transcendentalism was reborn to be a literary movement more than a philosophical movement. The new transcendentalist movement celebrated the ideas of self-reflection and individualism. They believed that the beauties of the world came from mankind and nature, not technology. Additionally, they believed that there is a flow of energy between the universe and the individual soul. These virtues shaped what transcendentalist writers wrote about including but not limited to Margaret fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and of course, Henry David Thoreau. (Funk)
Throughout the essay “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau often used the theme of individualism.

In his essay, he states that if a person does not agree with the rules and regulations of a law that they should “break the law.” (Thoreau 98). When a person goes against something they don’t agree with, they are using their conscience to make things right for themselves. He also states that it goes against the right of nature to force someone to think a certain is correct and just even though they simply don’t agree to it. This leads then to the person’s duty to break the law for the right of limited government and in a nonviolent way. (Parel, 424) A perfect example of a nonviolence protest was when Thoreau was sent to jail. It first started out when Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax, a type of taxation that had to be paid to vote in election, to the government since the American bureaucracy still supported the idea of slavery while he was an abolitionist. He believed that all lives mattered and that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. Anyways, since he violated federal law which states that voting citizens need to pay their poll tax, he ended up going to jail. He was let go when someone, thought to have been Emerson, finally paid his taxes the following day (Thoreau 105). Thoreau testified against the government and broke away from the ways of society to form his own way of

thinking.
Another theme in the essay “Civil Disobedience” is the need to have a smaller government. When revisiting the line “Government is best which governs least,” it was made clear that the idea of a smaller government was necessary in the mind of Thoreau. It is said that a government depends on the people it governs. (Parel, 424) This means that when people vote on how they want the government to work, they are the ones that make the decisions on who the country is to be run for the next two or four years. Even though the people of the country only have a say every two or four years, Thoreau believes that individuals during the “off period” have the right to be able to recall officials and even overturn rules and regulations they don't agree with. Now, Thoreau does believe that it is necessary to have a government because without one, people will be running ramped throughout the land. He does state though that as mankind progresses and matures, government oversight should be drawn back, and soon, the idea of government should be gone. Since he clearly knowns that this wont happen for a long time, he does ask for a government that understands its mistakes and stops injustices like funding wars through taxation dollars and supporting slavery. Additionally, he ask for a government that is fast and efficient that will get problems solved, not a slow, ineffective government that takes problems to a whole new level. All of these characteristics are ones a small government counts of.
Throughout the essay, the style of the essay develops and becomes more prevalent as it goes on. When looking at the audience Thoreau intended for his essay “Civil Disobedience,” it was mostly geared towards those who identified themselves as abolitionist or as a progressive thinker who leaned forward. This is true since he would often say how slavery was an injustice to the human race since all human should be treated equally, but during his lifetime, the theme of one race being inferior to another was common. (Banion, 190) Additionally, the intended audience would have the emotion of patriotism and hope since they hope to see a reborn American where everyone is treated with dignity. (Banion, 190) Besides the audience and emotional connection, the use of metaphors is used in the essay to compare the government to a machine (Banion, 190) The use of this metaphor, for example, is to show the reader that the government keeps on going regardless of it making a mistake. Thoreau wants the government to be more human and for them to acknowledge their mistakes.
The definition of a classical “A form of art regarded as representing an exemplary standard; traditional and long-established in form or style.” (Oxford Dictionary, Classic) Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” is a classic since it does indeed have exemplary standards since through his life story and his work in the transcendentalism movement, he made the themes of the essay reflect upon his thinking and redefined what the 19th century Transcendentalism movement was.