Thoreau did not refuse taxes, while simultaneously disobeying his arrest.
His means to a greater government was civil disobedience. Thoreau was not against the idea of the government, he instead strived for a better and greater government. He believed that the unjustness that we see around us must be countered by combatting it ourselves and that the preservation of one’s conscience is the ultimate act of heroism. He looked at those who served the state blindly as individuals who “command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt”. Thoreau firmly believed in one’s conscience, and how one should mould their actions according to it. For these individuals become tools to facilitate undemocratic actions. To elaborate, policemen who arrest an individual on higher orders despite their conscience telling them otherwise are devoid of moral sensibilities, the same goes for an army soldier who walks into a battle he feels is incorrect and immoral, a judge who prosecutes an innocent man despite knowing otherwise, etc.
Thoreau believed that being blindly subservient to the state and its desires was an action lacking conscience and thus individuals who do so must not be propped up as idols. Thoreau looked at the government as an institution that was often misused as a means to an end by certain actors, and that such misuse is completely antithetical to the duty of the government, that is to ensure individual freedom is not trampled on and is preserved. The essay begins with the following line – “That government is best which governs least”. Thoreau worked on this essay after he was jailed in July 1846 because he refused to pay taxes that went toward The Mexican War and slavery. Looking at Civil Disobedience, I’d like to focus on Henry David Thoreau, and his essay titled “Civil Disobedience” (originally titled – “Resistance to Civil Government”).
I’ll be primarily focusing on contemporary societies, and will be looking at examples and outcomes of the interaction between civil disobedience and democracy.ĬIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND THE IDEAS OF THOREAU Through this essay, I will attempt to look at the certain idea of civil disobedience and democracy.
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