![]() ![]() For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever. I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name if ten honest men only ay, if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this co-partnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America. Thoreau called for the use of what we now call "passive resistance" to laws perceived to be unjust, and predicted that individual resistance to unjust laws could have a significant effect on government and its policies. "Civil Disobedience" was inspired by Thoreau's arrest in 1846 for refusing for six years to pay a poll tax in protest of both slavery and the Mexican-American War. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it." ![]() ![]() ".I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. ![]() In 1849, Henry David Thoreau famously argued for the power of citizens to demand better government and policies in his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally titled "Resistance to Civil Government"). Laying the Foundation of Civil Disobedience: Henry David Thoreau ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |