Over the centuries, some leaders have believed that private citizens should rebel against injustice in a non-violent rebellion. These leaders have had courage and passion to start or encourage revelations; they have committed acts of civil disobedience to protest these laws put up by a corrupt government. The leaders were willing to give up their lives or freedom because their conscience would not let them rest and accept the unjust laws. Some of these leaders include Henry David Thoreau, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Malala Yousafzai.
To illustrate, a famous man of literature and a leader of civil disobedience acts is Henry David Thoreau; he wrote the essay “On the Act of Civil Disobedience” as a realist to state his views on the government. He felt the government unjustly taxed the people to pay for a war with Mexico. He encouraged acts of civil disobedience against these unjust laws – laws that did not agree with their conscience (1-4). He felt the human race should act upon what their conscience tells them to do; they should not let a government say what they should or should not do. Thoreau stated, “The only obligation I have a right to assume is to do anytime what I think right” (1). He thought the government had too much power over the people and wanted them to rebel (1-4). He saw that the people obeyed because they felt they were supposed to and were too afraid to do anything about it. The law he was opposing was that the people should pay taxes because they lived on the land and they were a part of that society so they had to pay whenever and whatever they were told by the government. Thoreau was jailed for not paying his taxes for one night and felt that he was ...
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...m Gandhi. Gandhi’s rebellion and Dr. King’s campaign inspired and taught her (1). She is rebelling for the people, especially women, to be able to be educated and well learned to defeat the overruling government; not only advocating for peace and freedom, she is also yearning for educational equality.
Injustice has bred leaders who believe people should be able to protest against the unjust laws with civil disobedience and rebellions. The leader who is most inspiring is Malala, she is a very young woman who, although shot and injured, still stood up for what she believed in, still trying to set women equal to men in Afghanistan. The most admirable is Aung San Suu Kyi because she has been arrested multiple times but nonetheless continuously working for political freedom and adversity. Across the nation people have and will continue to rebel and set things equal.
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.
Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreau each write exemplary persuasive essays that depict social injustice and discuss civil disobedience, which is the refusal to comply with the law in order to prove a point. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King speaks to a specific audience: the African Americans, and discusses why he feels they should bring an end to segregation. Thoreau on the other hand, in “Civil Disobedience,” speaks to a broader, non-addressed audience as he largely expresses his feelings towards what he feels is an unjust government. Both essays however, focus on the mutual topics of morality and justice and use these topics to inform and motivate their audience to, at times, defy the government in order to establish the necessary justice.
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 of the need for a civil protest to the unjust laws created against the slaves and the Mexican-American war.
Thoreau wrote "Civil Disobedience" in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An expression of the individual's liberty to create change" (Thoreau 530). Thoreau felt that the government had established order that resisted reform and change. "Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary" (Thoreau 531).
Justice is often misconceived as injustice, and thus some essential matters that require more legal attentions than the others are neglected; ergo, some individuals aim to change that. The principles of civil disobedience, which are advocated in both “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. to the society, is present up to this time in the U.S. for that purpose.
Mahatma Gandhi, a prominent leader in the independence movement of India once said, “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt.”(brainyquotes.com) Gandhi states that protest and civil disobedience are necessary when the authority becomes unscrupulous. This correlates to “Declaration of Independence,” by Thomas Jefferson; “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau; and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr., because all three leaders felt that civil disobedience was important to help protest against an unjust ruling. Jefferson stood up to the injustice of the king by writing the Declaration of Independence and urged others to stand up for the independence of America. Thoreau exemplified
In his famous essay, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,’’ Martin Luther King, Jr. cites conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and defying unjust laws. In the same way, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his famous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” that people should do what their conscience tells them and not obey unjust laws. The positions of the two writers are very close; they use a common theme of conscience, and they use a similar rhetorical appeal of ethos.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American philosopher, author, poet, abolitionist, and naturalist. He was famous for his essay, “Civil Disobedience”, and his book, Walden. He believed in individual conscience and nonviolent acts of political resistance to protest unfair laws. Moreover, he valued the importance of observing nature, being individual, and living in a simple life by his own values. His writings later influenced the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. In “Civil Disobedience” and Walden, he advocated individual nonviolent resistance to the unjust state and reflected his simple living in the nature.
Major historical changes have often been affected by civil disobedience, there have always been groups of people who have had a lesser say in the decisions taken by the government. If not no say at all. Both Sophie Scholl and Aung San Suu Kyi were women who stood up for their beliefs in a non violent way and suffered great consequences for it. They fought hard for what they believed was right and gave up personal gain for the greater good. Although, what did they really achieve? Did they manage to achieve anything at all? If so what? How? In this essay all of these questions will be answered.
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.
Overall in "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau used many literary techniques to support his beliefs. These included emotional appeal, a hyperbole, and a paradox. Henry Thoreau used numerous more, in "Civil Disobedience" but these three were very strong to back up his confidence in his story. Thoreau just wants people to stand up for themselves, and do what they believe in. Thoreau wants them to be their own person, and express their own opinions. Henry Thoreau believes every single person should have a say in everything. Thoreau's belief is still relevant today. One person can make a huge difference. There happen to be many people who express Thoreau's beliefs including Martin Luther King, Jr., and millions other citizens in our generation.
Comparing the Civil Disobedience of Martin Luther King Jr., Henry David Thoreau, and Mohandas Gandhi
In the past in this country, Thoreau wrote an essay on Civil disobedience saying that people make the law and have a right to disobey unjust laws, to try and get those laws changed.
When it comes to the pretension of Civil Disobedience and what can be seen as acts of indirect and direct civil disobedience. H.A. Bedau and Henry David Thoreau come to mind because of how they both saw things in a different light, but at a meaningful level they both thought the same about the government even through they expressed their ideals in completely different ways. Their ideas cross on many different paths as to which even Bedau talks about Thoreau in his essay in regards to being “responsible” for your actions. The main premise of Bedau’s argument in his essay of “civil disobedience and personal responsibility for justice” is too compare the idea of what is civil disobedience and who is responsible for the actions. Bedau spends a
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Aung San Suu Kyi both fall into a category of those who fought against the unjust of society to change. From Martin Luther with his change in the church through the Reformation, or Ghandi with his nonviolent protests against the British in India, they along with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Aung San Suu Kyi fought for a change in their society. Though King and Suu Kyi differ in their fight, they both shared the same motive that they wanted to fight for, equality for all. While King addressed the unjust in society through his “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” conducted sit-ins, speeches and preaching nonviolence, Suu Kyi took another approach in her “In Quest of Democracy,” speaking only when the government