Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)

Civil Disobedience is an essay (available at ), written by noted philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Published in 1849 under the title 'Resistance to Civil Government', it expressed Thoreau's dislike for the establishment, disdain for slavery, the Mexican-American War, voting, and his desire for a utopia on earth.

Related Topics:
Henry David Thoreau - 1849 - Slavery - Mexican-American War - Utopia

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Thoreau begins his essay explaining his laissez faire attitude toward government ("That government is best which governs least"), a quote often attributed to Thoreau but which probably comes from Thomas Jefferson on the masthead of The Democratic Review.

Related Topics:
Laissez faire - Thomas Jefferson

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Civil Disobedience is accredited with influencing Leo Tolstoy. As a result many have interpreted this essay to be an expression of pacifism and nonviolent resistance, as exemplified by Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. However, his essay puts forth a much more individualistic call for each citizen to stand against whatever he/she finds morally repugnant. He is dismissive of the utility of voting, calling it "a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it." Instead, Thoreau exhorted each individual to refuse to pay taxes to any government he/she cannot support with a clear conscience. Thoreau even goes so far as to call the US Constitution "evil" because it is too slow in creating mechanisms to change what is wrong.

Related Topics:
Leo Tolstoy - Pacifism - Nonviolent resistance - Mohandas Gandhi - Martin Luther King, Jr. - Checkers - Backgammon - US Constitution

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