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Where did Henry David Thoreau write civil disobedience?
“Civil Disobedience,” originally titled “Resistance to Civil Government,” was written after Thoreau spent a night in the unsavory confines of the Concord, Massachusetts jail–an activity likely to inspire anyone to civil disobedience.
When did Thoreau write Resistance to Civil Government?
1849
Thoreau delivered the first draft of the treatise as an oration to the Concord Lyceum in 1848, and the text was published in 1849 under the title Resistance to Civil Government. The two major issues being debated in the United States during Thoreau’s life were slavery and the Mexican-American War.
Who was inspired by civil disobedience?
The American tradition of protest, strongly influenced by Thoreau’s writing on civil disobedience, includes the notion of nonviolent, direct action. Martin Luther King, “fascinated” and “deeply moved” by Thoreau’s essay, built upon the work of both Thoreau and Gandhi (3).
Is Thoreau’s civil disobedience an advocacy of resistance to government?
Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience espouses the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. He presents his own experiences as a model for how to relate to an unjust government: In protest of slavery, Thoreau refused to pay taxes and spent a night in jail. …
Who published Resistance to Civil Government in 1849?
Henry David Thoreau
Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849.
What did Henry David Thoreau say in Civil Disobedience?
Thoreau declared that if the government required people to participate in injustice by obeying “unjust laws,” then people should “break the laws” even if they ended up in prison. “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,” he asserted, “the true place for a just man is also a prison.”
When was Walden written by Henry David Thoreau?
1846
Walden/Date written
What did Henry David Thoreau write about?
He spent a night in jail after refusing to pay a poll tax. This experience led him to write one of his best-known and most influential essays, “Civil Disobedience” (also known as “Resistance to Civil Government”). Thoreau held deeply felt political views, opposing slavery and the Mexican-American War.
How does Thoreau define civil disobedience?
Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience espouses the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. When a government is unjust, people should refuse to follow the law and distance themselves from the government in general.
When did Henry David Thoreau publish civil disobedience?
Thoreau revised the lecture into an essay titled “Resistance to Civil Government” (also known as “Civil Disobedience”). It was published by Elizabeth Peabody in the Aesthetic Papers in May 1849.
Who was Henry David Thoreau and what did he do?
Henry David Thoreau. Henry David Thoreau (see name pronunciation; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, yogi, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden,…
What did Henry Thoreau say about majority rule?
Majority rule is based on physical strength, not right and justice. Individual conscience should rule instead, and civil government should confine itself to those matters suited to decision by majority rule. He deplores the lack of judgment, moral sense, and conscience in the way men serve the state.
What did Thoreau mean by the right of revolution?
A man cannot bow unquestioningly to the state’s authority without disregarding himself. 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.