Mr. Kibler
APUSH – 7th Hour
October 17, 2014
Civil Disobedience
The main idea of this essay is that the majority is not always right and men should let their conscience govern them and not the government itself. The message being conveyed is that people should follow what they think is right instead of going with the crowd/majority even if it means going against the government.
The author of “Civil Disobedience” is Henry David Thoreau. He was an American philosopher, poet, and environmental scientist. He exerted a profound, enduring influence on American thought and letters. His famous experiment in living close to nature, and his equally famous night in jail to protest an inhuman institution and an unjust war, are displayed in his best known works, Walden and "Civil Disobedience." Thoreau would be biased toward the meaning due to his radical views against government.
This essay was written in 1849 in the United States of America. Thoreau delivered the first draft of the treatise as an oration to the Concord Lyceum in 1848, and the text was published in 1849 under the title Resistance to Civil Government. At the time he wrote this, the United States was facing two major issues: slavery and the Mexican-American War. The time and place color its meaning because at one time Thoreau spent a night in jail for his refusal to pay taxes in protest of the Mexican War and it is thought that this prompted him to write Civil Disobedience.
The purpose of this piece is to persuade the audience in resisting government but in a nonviolent way. People need to stand up for what they believe in no matter the consequences. The piece is effective in its goal and we can see this with people that came after and looked up to Thoreau such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. who practiced nonviolent protests.
“Civil Disobedience” implies but does not directly state that the government should be improved. In Thoreau’s time, this meant getting rid of slavery, ending the current war, and limiting the power of the government on the people. He argues that no one should be forced by the government in any way.
A parallel that can be made to this essay is Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. both attempt to argue for the rights to disobey authority if there is social injustice. Thoreau analyzes the duty and responsibility of citizens to protest and take action against corrupt laws of the government. Likewise, King conveys to his audience that the laws of the government against blacks are intolerable and that civil disobedience should be used as an instrument of freedom. They both effectively illustrate their philosophy that civil disobedience is a necessity.
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