Civil Disobedience Free Essays

Civil Obedience Questions 1. What was his position on the Mexican War? He was in the position of authority. Thoreau asserted that the United States government lacked moral power because it overlooked slavery, and he saw the Mexican War, as an attempt to extend slavery to the western United States. We will write a custom essay sample on Civil Disobedience or any similar topic only for you Order Now Thoreau believed that publicly disobeying the laws of an unjust government would bring other people to oppose that government’s actions. He refused to pay a poll tax and he considered the law to be unfair, even thought the government ordered by the rule of majority. . Thoreau states that, â€Å"no government would be best†. However, as a citizen what does he call for at once? Why? He states, â€Å" But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man made known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it† I felt that there wasn’t an answer given of what government would command his respect and had no help obtaining it. 5. What role should â€Å"majority rule† play in the government? The concept of â€Å"majority rule’ is something that America struggles to balance. They should play fair and balanced and it be constituted as a majority of one. The majority has the power to rule and the responsibility not to trample the rights of the minority. The minority must have the right to become the majority and have its voice heard. We should not wait until one has a majority of one to do the right thing. â€Å"Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already†. . If injustice is part of the necessary function of the machine of the government, then what should one do before changing it? Like Thoreau would say, â€Å" If the injustice is the part of the necessary friction of the machine of the government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth†¦. Let your life be the counter-friction would stop the machine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I agree with him, first you should let it go and later perhaps will smooth things when you know it. See things how they are running before we change the injustice. 7. If the law requires you to uphold an injustice to another, then what should you do? Thoreau says if a law was immoral, that we as moral people must realize that we will not live long enough to change the immoral law by any democratic process and that we must realize that â€Å"if it [a law] is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. † I would agree and break the law because it’s a right of civil obedience. Society does accept the moral right of an individual to break a law; it fulfills and orders to uphold the land of the laws. . Why was Thoreau was jailed? He ended up in jail because he refused to pay his pay roll tax in1846. 9. Why did he believed he was jailed? Because he didn’t pay his taxes in order to support the government. 11. When does he believe that a free and enlightened state will exist? Thoreau organizes his beliefs by saying, â€Å"There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power. † He believed when there was an importance of individual rights and power that need to be heard, it was time. How to cite Civil Disobedience, Papers Civil Disobedience Free Essays Henry David Thoreau, the father of Civil Disobedience, one of his famous quotes is â€Å"That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. † This man was an inspiration to Mahatma Gandhi along with Martin Luther King. Thoreau went to live in the forest a bit to simply live with nature and write about it, from what I could tell he enjoyed it very much and wrote about things he encountered. We will write a custom essay sample on Civil Disobedience or any similar topic only for you Order Now In my opinion, I feel he foolishly went and not pay his taxes while he was in the forest, and that got him locked up in prison. But I agree with what Thoreau stood for, his ideas of Civil Disobedience, all his quotes are inspirational and make me question my government. Mahatma Gandhi was a very self respecting man, who used his mind to influence the entire Indian population in India and protested for his country to be returned to the Indians. But just because one man changed the minds of a whole nation doesn’t mean that I completely agree with the ways he manipulated there thoughts. In the movie I saw how Gandhi strongly opposed the violent riot and I thought that he could have handled it in a different way. Instead on fasting he could have held another big meeting thing and told his followers that if they use violence they could potentially start a war with England that they would never win, and even more Indians would have died. Also when Gandhi went to walk to the beach for that whole protesting a salt processing plant, he could have a little bit of a better plan formulated so that some of his followers wouldn’t get beat down. Now on the case of Martin Luther King Jr. , I agree with everything that man did, said and died for. He took Rosa Parks side when she was arrested, and fought diligently for equal rights for blacks. One of my favorite things that King did was form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight segregation and achieve civil rights; with this also was his â€Å"I had a dream† speech in DC at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King made congress start giving rights to African American’s within a couple of years, something that would have took Gandhi decades in my own opinion. So in conclusion, Thoreau is the reason India is controlled by Indians and African Americans. All because of Thoreau’s genesis theories, if he hadn’t done this the world would be a much different place. How to cite Civil Disobedience, Essay examples Civil Disobedience Free Essays