what is thoreaus claim in civil disobedience

Thoreau’s primary argument in “Civil Disobedience

” is that the government should be less involved in order to work at its best. He focuses on the idea that people shouldn’t be forced to fight for something they don’t believe in.

Full Answer

What is Thoreau's view on civil disobedience?

According to Thoreau, this form of protest was preferable to advocating for reform from within government; he asserts that one cannot see government for what it is when one is working within it. Civil Disobedience covers several topics, and Thoreau intersperses poetry and social commentary throughout.

What was the title of Thoreau's resistance to civil government?

The lecture was published under the title "Resistance to Civil Government" in Elizabeth Peabody's Aesthetic Papers, in May 1849. It was included (as "Civil Disobedience") in Thoreau's A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers, published in Boston in 1866 by Ticknor and Fields, and reprinted many times.

How many sections are there in civil disobedience?

Civil Disobedience covers several topics, and Thoreau intersperses poetry and social commentary throughout. For purposes of clarity and readability, the essay has been divided into three sections here, though Thoreau himself made no such divisions.

What does Thoreau mean by a man can be compelled?

A man can be compelled only by one who possesses greater morality. In Civil Disobedience as throughout his other writings, Thoreau focuses on the individual's ultimate responsibility to live deliberately and to extract meaning from his own life; overseeing the machinery of society is secondary.

What claim does Thoreau?

Thoreau claims that one has not only a right, but a duty to disobey the government if one doesn't believe in its system of rule.

What is Thoreau's overall message?

Thoreau's central message in Walden is to live simply, independently, and wisely. He suggests that people try to live free and uncommitted, away from things that overcomplicate life such as exchange economy and modern labor. He also emphasizes the importance of engaging with Nature as closely and directly as possible.

What are the views of Henry David Thoreau in the essay Civil Disobedience?

Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience Thoreau's essay expresses ideas that show his connection to the 19th-century cultural movement known as Transcendentalism, which emphasized individualism, intuition, nature, and spirituality.

What was the motivation for Thoreau's Civil Disobedience?

Prompted by his opposition to slavery and the Mexican War (1846–1848), Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) wrote “Civil Disobedience” in 1849, but its central question — how should individuals respond to a government that pursues policies they believe to be immoral — still challenges us today.

What was the purpose of Civil Disobedience?

civil disobedience, also called passive resistance, the refusal to obey the demands or commands of a government or occupying power, without resorting to violence or active measures of opposition; its usual purpose is to force concessions from the government or occupying power.

What are the arguments made for the justification of Civil Disobedience?

For the State to accept civil disobedience as justifiable it must recognize the validity of higher moral principles and the right of the individual conscience to disobey a law it considers immoral. Generally it seems that all justifiable civil disobedience is justified by universally acceptable moral principles.

What is the purpose of Civil Disobedience quizlet?

A form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences.

What does Civil Disobedience suggest about the public?

What does "Civil Disobedience" suggest about the public opinion of tax evasion in Thoreau's time? Tax evasion was only a moderate crime. The evasion of taxes was considered highly disrespectful to the state. If allowed to continue, tax evasion was a serious offense.

What according to Thoreau The mass of men lead?

While Henry David Thoreau is often credited with variations of the aphorism “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still inside them,” that is not what he wrote in “Walden.” He merely said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” (Or to quote another Thoreau aphorism: “You must ...

What does Thoreau mean by saying we do not ride on the railroad it rides upon us?

We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.” In this, Thoreau discusses where he feels the Natural world needs the industrial, saying that we build the railroads to see our nations natural beauties but in doing so we destroy it.

What does your life is frittered away by detail mean?

Explanation. Verified. What Thoreau means is that the thousands of little distractions prevent us from ever learning what life is really about. Thoreau's wish is for people to radically simplify their life by withdrawing from society, so that a new society may emerge.

Does civil disobedience have to be peaceful?

Black's Law Dictionary includes nonviolence in its definition of civil disobedience. Christian Bay's encyclopedia article states that civil disobedience requires "carefully chosen and legitimate means", but holds that they do not have to be non-violent.

What does Thoreau say about civil disobedience?

Thoreau opens Civil Disobedience with the maxim "That government is best which governs least," and he speaks in favor of government that does not intrude upon men's lives. Government is only an expedient — a means of attaining an end.

When was Civil Disobedience published?

It was included (as "Civil Disobedience") in Thoreau's A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers, published in Boston in 1866 by Ticknor and Fields, and reprinted many times.

What was Thoreau's main topic in his lecture?

Having spent one night in jail in July of 1846 for refusal to pay his poll tax in protest against slavery and the Mexican War, Thoreau lectured before the Concord Lyceum in January of 1848 on the subject "On the Relation of the Individual to the State." The lecture was published under the title "Resistance to Civil Government" in Elizabeth Peabody's Aesthetic Papers, in May 1849. It was included (as "Civil Disobedience") in Thoreau's A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers, published in Boston in 1866 by Ticknor and Fields, and reprinted many times. The essay formed part of Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers as edited by British Thoreau biographer Henry S. Salt and issued in London in 1890. "Civil Disobedience" was included in the Riverside Edition of 1894 (in Miscellanies, the tenth volume), in the Walden and Manuscript Editions of 1906 (in Cape Cod and Miscellanies, the fourth volume), and in the Princeton Edition (in Reform Papers, the third volume) in 1973. One of Thoreau's most influential writings, it has been published separately many times (Walter Harding's The Variorum Civil Disobedience, for example, appeared in 1967), included in volumes of selections from Thoreau (among them the 1937 Modern Library Edition of Walden and Other Writings of Henry David Thoreau, edited by Brooks Atkinson), and translated into European and Asian languages.

What is Thoreau's right of revolution?

Thoreau introduces the right of revolution, which all men recognize, and reflects on the American Revolution, the origins of which he finds less morally compelling than the issues at hand. Having developed the image of the government as a machine that may or may not do enough good to counterbalance what evil it commits, he urges rebellion. The opponents of reform, he recognizes, are not faraway politicians but ordinary people who cooperate with the system. The expression of opposition to slavery is meaningless. Only action — what you do about your objection — matters. Wrong will be redressed only by the individual, not through the mechanism of government. Although Thoreau asserts that a man has other, higher duties than eradicating institutional wrong, he must at least not be guilty through compliance. The individual must not support the structure of government, must act with principle, must break the law if necessary.

What does Thoreau say about the universe?

Thoreau asserts that he does not want to quarrel or to feel superior to others. He wants to conform to the laws of the land, but current laws are not honorable from a higher point of view. Politics and politicians act as though the universe were ruled by expediency.

Why does Thoreau say that government is an institution?

Thoreau asserts that government as an institution hinders the accomplishment of the work for which it was created. It exists for the sole purpose of ensuring individual freedom. Denying an interest in abolishing government, he states that he simply wants a better government.

What is Thoreau's ultimate responsibility?

In Civil Disobedience as throughout his other writings, Thoreau focuses on the individual's ultimate responsibility to live deliberately and to extract meaning from his own life; overseeing the machinery of society is secondary.

What does Thoreau call civil disobedience?

Understanding. 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.

Who wrote Civil Disobedience?

Prompted by his opposition to slavery and the Mexican War (1846–1848), Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) wrote “Civil Disobedience” in 1849, but its central question — how should individuals respond to a government that pursues policies they believe to be immoral — still challenges us today.

When is the majority likely to vote for morality and justice?

The majority is likely to vote for morality and justice when the issue has already been decided, when it takes no courage to vote for the right, when, in other words, its vote no longer matters. Activity: Thoreau, the Many, and the Few.

What did Thoreau say about civil disobedience?

In "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau claims that it is not just our right but our duty as Americans to defy unjust laws. This is a very American idea, as... - eNotes.com

What does Thoreau believe about the individual?

Thoreau sees the individual as more powerful than the government, and he believes the individual conscience is a better indicator of right and wrong than the law. Disobedience is a way of asserting the authority of the individual conscience.

What is Thoreau's point?

Thoreau's point is that while government may exert superior physical power over the individual, the individual retains superior moral power. Acts of disobedience, like his imprisonment for not paying the Poll Tax, are expressions of this superior moral power. Yet Thoreau is not interested in dismantling government or becoming a revolutionary. He asserts that there are "not many moments" that he lives under a government; his essential freedom to think his own thoughts makes him ambivalent about reform and free, in every important way, from governmental interference. It is this essential freedom that makes it possible to imagine a state that recognizes the individual as a higher and independent power and "can afford to be just to all men."

What is Thoreau's Civil Disobedience?

Civil Disobedience. Thoreau's Civil Disobedience espouses the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws. It criticizes American social institutions and policies, most prominently slavery and the Mexican-American War. Thoreau begins his essay by arguing that government rarely proves itself useful and that it derives its power ...

What is the form of protest Thoreau advocates?

According to Thoreau, this form of protest was preferable to advocating for reform from within government; he asserts that one cannot see government for what it is when one is working within it. Civil Disobedience covers several topics, and Thoreau intersperses poetry and social commentary throughout.

What did Thoreau argue about the United States?

Thoreau further argues that the United States fits his criteria for an unjust government, given its support of slavery and its practice of aggressive war. Thoreau doubts the effectiveness of reform within the government, and he argues that voting and petitioning for change achieves little.

How did Thoreau relate to the government?

But, more generally, he ideologically dissociated himself from the government, "washing his hands" of it and refusing to participate in his institutions.

What is Thoreau's argument for government?

Thoreau begins his essay by arguing that government rarely proves itself useful and that it derives its power from the majority because they are the strongest group, not because they hold the most legitimate viewpoint. He contends that people's first obligation is to do what they believe is right and not to follow the law dictated by the majority. When a government is unjust, people should refuse to follow the law and distance themselves from the government in general. A person is not obligated to devote his life to eliminating evils from the world, but he is obligated not to participate in such evils. This includes not being a member of an unjust institution (like the government). Thoreau further argues that the United States fits his criteria for an unjust government, given its support of slavery and its practice of aggressive war.

When a government is unjust, should people refuse to follow the law?

When a government is unjust, people should refuse to follow the law and distance themselves from the government in general. A person is not obligated to devote his life to eliminating evils from the world, but he is obligated not to participate in such evils.

Understanding

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