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Throughout the history of the United States, there have been many times when
citizens have felt the need to revolt against their government. Such cases of
revolt took place during the times Henry David Thoreau. The reason for his
revolution included discrimination against the community and Americans refusing
to pay poll taxes to support the Mexican War. Thoreau used civil disobedience to
change people's ideas and beliefs to stop the injustice brought against them and
their nation. Civil Disobedience is defined as refusal to obey civil laws or
decrees, which usually takes the form of direct action (Grolier's Encyclopedia
Online). People practicing civil disobedience break a law because they consider
the law unjust.
They want to call attention to its injustice, hoping to bring
about its withdrawal. Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience in 1849, right after
spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax for the
Mexican War. He recommended using direct action to create social tension, thus
leading to the reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced
civil disobedience as, An expression of the individual's liberty to create
change (Thoreau). Thoreau felt that the government had established order that
resisted reform and change. Action from principle, the perception and
performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially
revolutionary (Thoreau). Thoreau refused to pay the poll tax because the money
was being used to finance the Mexican War. Not only was Thoreau against the war
itself, but the war was over Texas, which was to be used as a slave state.
His
friend, Staples, offered to pay the tax for him, but to Thoreau, it wasn't
paying the tax that he was objecting to, it was how the money would be used.
Thoreau felt strongly about paying money toward a war he did not support. He
would rather end up in jail than go against his will. Your money is your life,
why should I haste to give it my money (Thoreau). This illustrates how strongly
he felt. It was very important to Thoreau to inform the public about the war. He
wanted people to realize why it was wrong to support it. Thoreau never rallied
hundreds and thousands of people together, violently or nonviolently, to get
reactions. Instead, he went to jail to protest and wrote his essay, Civil
Disobedience. Thoreau's philosophy was to get people to think and take their own
approach to a situation. Thoreau definitely had many of the ideas of how to deal
with unjust laws performed by government. Thoreau inspired reform and also
overturned many unjust laws and customs in our country. We, as a society, should
look at this man as heroic figures and learn from his teachings. This will help
us better our knowledge of how to use non-violent direct action for future
national and international problems we may encounter.
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