Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience
to justify not paying his taxes, for which he was put in jail
. He refused to pay his taxes to protest two injustices he believed were perpetrated by the United States government: slavery and the war against Mexico.
What did Henry David Thoreau oppose?
Henry D. Thoreau was arrested and imprisoned in Concord for one night in 1846 for nonpayment of his poll tax. This act of defiance was a protest
against slavery
and against the Mexican War, which Thoreau and other abolitionists regarded as a means to expand the slave territory.
Why did Thoreau oppose the US government and write civil disobedience?
Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience
to justify not paying his taxes, for which he was put in jail
. He refused to pay his taxes to protest two injustices he believed were perpetrated by the United States government: slavery and the war against Mexico.
What is the purpose of Thoreau’s resistance to civil government?
Henry David Thoreau’s purpose in writing “resistance to civil government” was
to explain the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws
. In his essay, Thoreau explains that governments are typically more harmful than helpful and therefore cannot be justified.
What does Thoreau say about government control in Civil Disobedience?
Thoreau begins Civil Disobedience by saying that he agrees with the motto, “
That government is best which governs least.
” Indeed, he says, men will someday be able to have a government that does not govern at all. As it is, government rarely proves useful or efficient.
What did Henry Thoreau do about Civil Disobedience?
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.
Why does Thoreau argue it is not enough to just think a law is immoral?
In other words, it’s the obligation of every moral person to break the law when the law is immoral. … Thoreau argues that
because the government’s priorities are so unjust, people should not follow the government’s laws without questioning whether such laws actually serve a just purpose
.
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 type of government does Thoreau want?
How does Thoreau define the best possible kind of government? Thoreau envisions the best kind of government as on that does not govern. He supports
laissez-faire (free enterprise, free trade, noninterfering)
.
What does Thoreau use as a metaphor for government?
Thoreau’s metaphor for the government in “Civil Disobedience” is
a machine
. Just like a machine, the government has problems that can cause it to break, like friction within its structure.
What did Thoreau believe?
Thoreau’s attitude toward reform involved his
transcendental
efforts to live a spiritually meaningful life in nature. As a transcendentalist, Thoreau believed that reality existed only in the spiritual world, and the solution to people’s problems was the free development of emotions (“Transcendentalism”).
What is the most important element of civil disobedience?
The most important element of civil disobedience is
the use of nonviolence to protest against an unjust law
. For such acts to be considered civil, they cannot include violent struggle.
What is Thoreau’s solution?
Thoreau’s solution to
reform the government develops the idea of the relationship between the individual and the state
, by suggesting that people are not bound to obey the government. If a government allows injustice, the individual can and should resist it.
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.
What does Thoreau say is the best type of government?
The phrase “
that government is best which governs least
” is often credited to Henry David Thoreau, in his 1849 “Civil Disobedience,” or “Resistance to Civil Government.” (It’s also sometimes credited to Thomas Jefferson or John Locke, but although it might capture well some of their thinking, to my knowledge it doesn’t …
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.
