Hover for more information. Thoreau believes that the best kind of government is one that governs not at all . Governments, like all human institutions, are, of their very nature, corrupt.
What is Thoreau’s ideal government?
Thoreau believed that the best possible government was one that interfered with the lives of its people as little as possible , and only when completely necessary.
What type of government does Thoreau want in civil disobedience?
In “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau not only calls for resistance to immoral and unjust government actions, he also criticizes the foundations of representative democracy — majority rule, voting, and representation.
How does Thoreau define government?
Thoreau refers to the government as an expedient. What does he mean? He means the government is practical and convenient, but may be immoral .
What are Thoreau’s beliefs?
Thoreau emphasized self-reliance, individuality, and anti-materialism and sharply questioned the basic assumptions of the way men lived. Transcendentalism proved to be the intellectual force that charged Thoreau’s imagination to write about the possibilities of an ideal existence for man.
What were his feelings about the government while he was in jail?
How did his imprisonment affect his feelings about the government? He refused to pay his poll tax. In jail he lost respect for the state. ... People would live by their own rules without regard for the law, and no one person or group would have control.
What does Thoreau consider the most effective way of expressing his displeasure with the government?
Thoreau considers civil disobedience one of the most effective ways of expressing his displeasure with the government. Civil disobedience, as the name suggests, is the active disregard and breaking of a government rule when a private citizen believes it is unnecessary or even against society’s best interests.
What are the two main claims of civil disobedience?
Thoreau argues that there are two laws: the laws of men and the higher laws of God and humanity . If the laws of men are unjust, then one has every right to disobey them.
Who bailed out Thoreau?
The poll tax was levied on all men over the age of twenty. Thoreau was finally jailed overnight for this refusal in 1841 but was bailed out by his relatives who paid his back taxes for him. From July 4, 1845, to September 6, 1847, Thoreau lived alone at Walden Pond, Massachusetts, on a plot of land owned by Emerson.
What did Thoreau fight for?
Thoreau held deeply felt political views, opposing slavery and the Mexican-American War . He made a strong case for acting on one’s individual conscience and not blindly following laws and government policy.
What makes Thoreau a transcendentalist?
Thoreau made many contributions to transcendentalism, including writing many essays and poems for the transcendentalist literary journal The Dial and Walden ; or, Life in the Woods, a book that describes his experiences living in a small cabin on Walden Pond for two years where Thoreau wanted to demonstrate that a man ...
What does Thoreau say about jail?
Thoreau maintains that “ Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison .” This is true today in Massachusetts, he says: in prison, a person can live with honor among the victims of injustice.
What does Thoreau suggest is worse than disobeying an unjust law?
He disagreed with other American people who believed the majority should change the law first because it is a worse thing to disobey the law than to do what an unjust law says to do. Thoreau wrote that breaking the unjust laws is better: “Break the law. ... However, Thoreau did not think people should be criminals.
Does Thoreau believe that a democracy is the last possible improvement in America’s government?
“Is a democracy , such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? ... “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”
Why did Thoreau once spend a night in jail How did he feel about being imprisoned?
During his time at Walden, Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax . He withheld the tax to protest the existence of slavery and what he saw as an imperialistic war with Mexico.
What is the main idea of Thoreau’s argument?
Thoreau argued that the government must end its unjust actions to earn the right to collect taxes from its citizens . As long as the government commits unjust actions, he continued, conscientious individuals must choose whether to pay their taxes or to refuse to pay them and defy the government.
