Thoreau's Idea Of Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience had the original idea of and was put affect. He was revolutionary as he endorsed a form of protest that did not need violence or fear. Thoreau’s initial actions involving the protest governmental issues like slavery. It then landed him in jail as he refused to pay taxes. More than one hundred years later, the same issue of equal rights was dividing the U. S. apart. African Americans, like Martin Luther King Jr., followed in Thoreau’s footsteps by partaking in acts of civil disobedience. Peaceful rallies drew attention to the issue while keeping it from turning into a violent problem. Thoreau’s ideas were becoming prevalent because the ideas were used in cases as Brown v. Board of Education. The main
Upon spending his night in jail for not paying his taxes. Thoreau said that he felt “as if [he] alone of all [his] townsmen had paid [his] tax.” Martin Luther King’s last step was direct action. The movement of Martin Luther King and the civil rights protestors relied a lot on success of direct action. If they were to fight back, run away, their actions would be seen as criminal and therefore would not be seen at all. The idea of civil action seems to be taken directly from Thoreau. The argument that people were the true power of government was Thoreau’s strongest argument. One of his arguments stated that if self-proclaimed abolitionists “should at once effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government…it would be the abolition of slavery in America.” Through close examination of the Civil Rights Movement and that of Thoreau, we can observe how the same arguments can be compared between the years 1849 and
Some whites believed the issue was clear and took the view point that African Americans were just a race and should be kept as just a race under the law. Civil rights activists believed that every person was created equal and therefore should be equal under the law. Martin Luther King uses many quotes from historical figures to make argument stonger. This can be applied to the plight of African Americans as natural law would dictate that every person is equal. A just law “is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.” Thoreau argues that unjust laws exist yet not all unjust laws should be fought against. He believes “if the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go…perchance it will wear smooth--certainly the machine will wear out.” He argues by saying that if the law “is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then…break the law.” Through application of this quote to the Civil Rights Movement, we judge whether the fight should have been ignored, or whether the law should have been broken. We can say ‘machine’ is the government of the United States. In addition we can say that whites in government used many tricks to inhibit the advancement of African Americans. History shows injustice which means that Thoreau and King would agree that the law must be broken. The impact of