FREE ESSAY ON CIVIL DISOBEDENCE

CIVIL DISOBEDENCE

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.