citizens have the right to take actions. Peaceful resistance to law positively impacts all societies in the world‚ no matter the era. Rewinding almost 150 years‚ we turn towards a man who believes that civil disobedience is actually a necessity in society. Henry David Thoreau defended civil disobedience by stating it is a citizen’s responsibility to act against a corrupt government. In his time‚ he protested vehemently against a greedy government who was seeking dominance. His refusal to pay a poll
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practice of punishing students by whipping them”(Axelrod‚ Alan and Phillips 202). Thoreau wrote an essay called The Civil Disobedience that was based on his life experience‚ “he was jailed one night for his refusal to pay a poll tax to support the United States’ war on Mexico‚ an experience that led to the essay “Resistance to Civil Government” (1849) later titled “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” (Axelrod‚ Alan and Phillips 202). Thoreau supported the idea that an individual should protest the
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Civil Disobedience It is seldom that breaking the law is justifiable‚ but when the law is unjust‚ it is up to the people to bring attention to it. Civil disobedience is a peaceful form of protest “with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies” (Brownlee). Antigone buries her brother in an act of civil disobedience when her uncle prohibits his burial. Just as Antigone accepted her death sentence‚ those who participate in civil disobedience “are willing to accept the legal
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Thoreau. In “Civil Disobedience‚” Thoreau promotes resisting unjust government actions. Although not opposed to violent solutions‚ Thoreau encourages less aggressive measures. Specifically‚ Thoreau gave the example of refusing to pay certain taxes. Following this idea‚ King writes in detail about nonviolent resistance in his first book‚ Stride Toward Freedom. King describes how one of Thoreau’s works was his original inspiration for his peaceful approach explaining‚ “. . . I read Thoreau’s Essay on Civil
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Kris Santos-Roman Michael Beihl ENG- 110 - College Writing 02/09/2015 Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience it’s a major action that many people around the globe practice. Civil Disobedience happens when a certain group are demanding or refusing to follow the norms. Civil Disobedience is necessary but also it is our right as humans to disobey with the norms that we don’t agree with or decisions. It’s our right to demand what we really want; for example protesting when we want our voice
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Affirmative Argument Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines‚ as a peaceful form of political protest. The reason civil disobedience is morally justifiable is because‚ as noted in the definition‚ it is peaceful. Peaceful civil disobedience does not harm anyone‚ in fact‚ it just gives the people the freedom of speech they were promised in the Declaration of Independence‚ which might I add‚ resulted initially for civil disobedience. Everyone was given
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Rawls argues that violence‚ when practicing civil disobedience‚ cannot be justified; however‚ violence is a part of civil disobedience; its qualities as both a practice and is justification hold true the goal of civil disobedience- a call for change in the laws or practices. Civil disobedience is an act in violation of a law‚ which is undertaken for moral reasons. Rawls’ view of civil disobedience is that it cannot be violent because of its nature. This practice does in fact have the abilities to
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These lines are from Thoreau’s essay‚ Civil Disobedience. In Civil Disobedience‚ Thoreau speaks out in a personal voice‚ where he exemplifies the Transcendentalist movement and philosophy he follows. The tone of these lines are portrayed by the use of the language‚ which indirectly describes that he feels negatively toward the State “forcing” people to live their life in in accordance to the set regulations of the State. In these particular lines‚ he demonstrates his opinion on how he will not be
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march to the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt‚ resulting in the largest democracy in the world‚ it has been witnessed that peaceful resistance to laws is an effective method of gaining freedom‚ independence‚ and equality. Although civil disobedience is effective‚ it only is so if it is peaceful and dissidents should be careful not to be blinded by their passions and harm anybody neither directly nor indirectly. One of the most publicized authors
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Thoreau says‚ “If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man‚ I must restore it to him and drown myself.” This metaphors sums up most of what he is saying in On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. The person unjustly wresting the plank from the drowning man is the government‚ and the drowning man himself is the citizens of a government. This is to say that if the government wrongly takes from its citizens to save itself‚ then the government must first give what has been taken back to its citizens
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