Rhetorical Analysis Of Civil Disobedience '

Kayla Southworth

Professor Benjamin

CH 203-1005

March 6, 2015

The Rebelling American

In the article “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, he talks about the American government and how some of the laws they set into place are hypocritical from which he then talks about how one could rebel against it. It is within this piece that it is seen that Thoreau shows much disdain for slavery and the Mexican war that was presiding over his time period as these were the main reasons for the piece’s comprisal. From there he goes on to justify that if a man is to find something unjust in what the government is doing he has the social and moral duty as an American to rebel against it. Comprising everything from his piece, Thoreau creates this definition

of civil disobedience on the basis of slavery and the Mexican war as being this act of showing resistance against the government willingly by not obeying the laws that are seen as deceiving.
Thoreau’s definition of civil disobedience first shows up when he mentions slavery in his piece.

This occurs when he starts talking about liberty and states “…when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slave…I think it’s not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize.” (Thoreau 151). By stating this, he is creating his definition of civil disobedience as he is proclaiming the men need to rebel against the government because while there is liberty not everyone has it. He further propels his reasoning by stating “…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” when the government does not fix its wrong doings such as slavery (Thoreau 152). In stating this, he brings into play how it’s a social duty for a man to rid himself of the government as a way of showing they do not support how the government is conducting themselves. Thus showing how slavery in Thoreau’s piece helps create his definition of civil

disobedience.
His definition of civil disobedience towards the government is further shaped when he starts talking about the Mexican war.

Within the piece he mentions on multiple occasions about how the war is unjust because it is over land to spread slavery and how the American people are helping the war by paying their taxes. It is from there that he proclaims that a way to stop the war is “If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood” (Thoreau 154). In stating this he not only brings to light his definition of civil disobedience but the American man’s moral duty to protect the innocent. The definition of civil disobedience is brought to life in this quote as he sees the law of paying taxes as being deceiving as it in his example causes for many unneeded deaths from which one should naturally rebel from it. The moral duty is seen within the quote when he mention how innocent blood would not be shed due to the American citizens rebelling. In that showing, how the Mexican war helps Thoreau generate his definition of civil

disobedience.
In defining civil disobedience, Thoreau then ends his piece on the account of how he was imprisoned for not paying his taxes due to his views of slavery and the where after his release he would exile himself from the state of Massachusetts. From which he then comes to his ending speaking of the ideal state that he would adhere to where equality and justice are in its’ forming. It is from that that it can be seen that because of the American system of slavery and the Mexican war for slavery Thoreau’s definition of civil disobedience is in fact this act of disobeying law that people would willingly perform in order to resistance to the government.