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Negative impacts of British colonialism
ESSAY ON CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Henry David Thoreau
Three negative impacts of colonial rule
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Democratic societies are were the people are involved in the decision making of the government and have representation. In Thomas Paine’s Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs, Paine desired for the colonies to go to war against Britain to gain independence, while having the feeling that Britain was exploiting the colonies. Paine explains the disadvantages of the colonies being connected with Britain. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Divinity School Address he brings forth a moral argument. He discusses the relationship between man, soul, God, and the church. In Henry David Thoreau’ On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Henry believes in the act of civil disobedience, in which man does not need the government as much as they think they do. Henry promotes the idea of individuality, in which man could do better than the government in various situations. Thomas Paine, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, were American writers who generated their own ideas of an ideal American society, where people have involvement with the government or church.
Thomas Paine urged for the colonies to gain independence from Britain by going to war, in which Britain ruled over the colonies looking out for its financial benefits. In Thomas Paine’s Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs he states “…whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with Britain.” Although the colonies were under the protection of Britain they gained enemies such as France and Spain, which spoiled the trade of the colonies. Paine believed the colonies should go to war, even the men who still had hope for Britain. Paine states “…and can you still shake hands with the murders, ...
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... lived during times where the government and church held much power in society, but Thoreau’s On the Duty of Civil Disobedience appealed to me the most with his methods of civil disobedience. The government today holds power over the people in the United States. Even though the United States is a democratic government there is still corruption within it. Such as there being corrupt police officers who may lie to save himself knowing that he was wrong. Enabling the persecution of another person who is innocent. Also the rich in this government still hold the most power in this country. A rich person may buy their way out of jail, while a non rich person is not able to. I believe civil disobedience is a great way to combat the government because it prevents bloodshed and allows a message to get across if down with enough people to gain attention.
The distance between the colonies and England is what led to most of the political strife in 1776. Paine argued that having a government so far away trying to rule from was deplorable. He urged colonists to be outraged, as he was, that when any issue would arise it would take 3-4 months for the English government to find a solution and start working on fixing the problem. Paine called for independence to create a government that would be run by the people and for the people, not by one single tyrannical leader. He rallied for a government that was in America and that had representatives from every one of the colonies so that all the colonist’s voices would be heard. Paine urged the colonists to see “Our prayers have been rejected with disdain; and hath tended to convince us that nothing flatters vanity or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than repeated petitioning”, and it was now time to fight for independence to create a government that would listen (Paine, Common Sense,
Paine dwells on the differences between government and society. He stresses greatly on the fact that a government should be able to protect its society. Giving life and liberty to its people. He also points out that, Britain is the main cause of enemy to the Americas. Expressing disagreement with the British in American, he criticized the British government. He believes that the monarchy has too much power and their system is unreasonable. Paine complicates matters further when he writes, that the Americans are not British anymore. It is not British in a sense that it is so diverse, with different types of Europeans. In Paine’s views Britain is not a mother country, since it imposes harsh treatments and is in a war too often. The idea of best interest was important to Paine. In his views, Britain sees the Americas as profitable institutions to control and gains riches from, as opposed to the development and freedom of the nations. Independence from Britain was one of many ideas of this pamphlet. “Common Sense”, essentially pointed out the reasons why the colonies should leave the British and form a new government. His views on government inspired “Limited government” and “natural laws”, which gives citizens more control on how they shape their local environment and
History has encountered many different individuals whom have each impacted the 21 in one way or another; two important men whom have revolted against the government in order to achieve justice are Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. Both men impacted numerous individuals with their powerful words, their words carried the ability to inspire both men and women to do right by their morality and not follow unjust laws. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by David Henry Thoreau along with King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, allow the audience to understand what it means to protest for what is moral.
Thomas Paine wrote the Common Sense and in this pamphlet he wrote about America’s separation and independence from Great Britain. His argument stated that America is a large continent and we are in charge of our own fate and direction (Paine 107). Paine further explained that people migrated to America to escape the control of the King and his laws. Paine introduced a theory when comparing America to a small island, that it is possible if separated we can come together and make our own laws and run the country as we see fit (Paine 109). Paine believes that we are no longer in need of Britain’s help and that we can eventually form alliances with other countries as we stand alone outside of Britain’s control.
In 1848, David Thoreau addressed and lectured civil disobedience to the Concord Lyceum in response to his jail time related to his protest of slavery and the Mexican War. In his lecture, Thoreau expresses in the beginning “That government is best which governs least,” which sets the topic for the rest of the lecture, and is arguably the overall theme of his speech. He chastises American institutions and policies, attempting to expand his views to others. In addition, he advances his views to his audience by way of urgency, analyzing the misdeeds of the government while stressing the time-critical importance of civil disobedience. Thoreau addresses civil disobedience to apprise the people the need for a civil protest to the unjust laws created
Paine believed that America needed to break free of the British clutches. He spoke out against slavery and joined the army to help fight the war. He did not agree with hereditary monarchy and wrote another paper to argue this point (Franklin 321). Paine was very aware of his criticizers, and worked very hard to persuade them toward his way of thinking. In his pamphlet Common Sense he writes: "I have heard it asserted by some, that as America has flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect"(Paine 323). Paine states the following argument: ."..for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and proba...
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson appeals to patriotism. Jefferson ensures this by persuading the colonists to become self-governing. He tries to let all of the people of the New World understand that they have protested and defended themselves against the British for all of the corrupt acts the British have committed upon the colonists. Jefferson’s tone in the Declaration of Independence portrays how tiresome he has grown of the British rule after all of the deception towards Americans. Included within the idea of patriotism, is the idea of loyalty to the fundamental values and principles underlying American democracy. Thomas Paine also provides patriotism to get advocates for the movement to separate from the British forces. Correspondingly, Paine persuades Americans that they will prosper in numerous areas without the control of the British saying, “Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an independent, for independency means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws…” (Paine). Paine uses a demanding tone to convince Americans that if they should accept the ties with Britain, it will bring ruin and distress to the
Paine had not entertained the idea of independence from Britain when he arrived in America. He thought it was “a kind of treason” to break away from Britain. It was not until the Battle of Lexington in 1775 that he considered “the compact between Britain and America to be broken” (Claeys). This idea of a broken compact allowed Thomas Paine to write a political pamphlet.
In his essay, “Resistance to Civil Government,” often times dubbed, “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) argues against abiding to one’s State, in protest to the unjust laws within its government. Among many things, Thoreau was an American author, poet, and philosopher. He was a firm believer in the idea of civil disobedience, the act of refusing to obey certain laws of a government that are felt to be unjust. He opposed the laws regarding slavery, and did not support the Mexican-American war, believing it to be a tactic by the Southerners to spread slavery to the Southwest. To show his lack of support for the American government, he refused to pay his taxes. After spending a night in jail for his tax evasion, he became inspired to write “Civil Disobedience.” In this essay, he discusses the importance of detaching one’s self from the State and the power it holds over its people, by refraining from paying taxes and putting money into the government. The idea of allowing one’s self to be arrested in order to withhold one’s own values, rather than blindly following the mandates of the government, has inspired other civil rights activists throughout history such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Both these men fought against unjust laws, using non-violent, yet effective, methods of protest. From these three men, we can learn the significance of detaching ourselves from the social norm; and instead, fight for our values in a non-violent way, in order to make a change in our government’s corrupt and unjust laws.
Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and now Parkland Florida students as well as students around the world; is it true that civil disobedience is the best way for people of all ages to get their voices heard, especially for students who are fighting for gun control?(hook rhetorical) Civil disobedience has been used for centuries to protest unjust laws and legislation, as well as other government decisions that many of the public do not agree with. Thoreau was one of the first to use the term “Resistance to Civil Government” know known as civil disobedience, in which he detailed that not only was the best government the one that did the least, but that laws passed by the government were no better than the people they governed(Thoreau).
According to the American heritage dictionary “Civil Disobedience” is refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. In “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau stated “That government is best which governs least, and I would like to see it acted up more rapidly and systematically” (pg227). Thoreau did not believe that the government should have the final say on everything. The citizens of this country should have rights in the decision making process and the opportunity to think for themselves also. Thoreau says that government does not, in fact, achieve that with which we credit it: it does not keep the country free, settle the West, or educate. Rather, these achievements come from the character of the American people, and they would have been even more successful in these endeavors had government been even less involved.
Thomas Paine also said that we are under the British rule. Thomas Paine stated that the British model gave too much power to the king, so that is why the colonists should reject the British model. That is just one of the great impacts Thomas Paine had on the colonists. Not only did he have an impact on the colonist’s minds, but he also had an impact on the soldier’s minds. “These are the times that try men's souls’’ was a great phrase to encourage the Continental Army to keep fighting for their freedom.
Virtually every culture has strived to achieve a Utopian society. A Utopian society is basically a society, which has surpassed aggression, war, hate, and crime while establishing “peaceful” and orderly communities. A Utopian society could not exist with the individuality that nature has bestowed on the human race. So long as humans remain unique in their state of mind, utopia is a mere fantasy. To work around this problem a society must adapt itself to achieve a utopian-like state. This can be achieved by one of two ways.
In "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau criticizes the American government for its democratic nature, namely, the idea of majority ruling. Like earlier transcendentalists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau believes in the importance of the individual. In a society where there are many individuals with conflicting perceptions and beliefs, Emerson chooses passivity and isolation to avoid conflict with others. However, unlike Emerson, Thoreau rejects passivity and challenges his readers to stand up against the government that focuses on majorities over individuals. Thoreau argues that when power is in the hands of the people, the majority rules, "not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest" (Thoreau 64). Thoreau portrays this very fundamental element of democracy, w...
The perfect societies have been crumbled by the simplest of thing such as people, beliefs, and customs. There has never been as a society that has been able to sustain its self and not had to back up on in way or change their customs because of a foreign power or conquest. But in the ideal society where the leaders care and have the best interest of the country itself. I could see where the society could be better. But there is always a struggle for power or land. There has always been this fight going on through the ages. Just look at Julius Caesar, he was killed for his power as well as someone having different ideas for the city of Athens. This is why there is and cannot be a perfect or ideal society.