Throughout the history of the United States of America‚ a country that celebrates and was founded on the belief in personal freedoms‚ the idea of peaceful‚ civil disobedience has been much disputed. The point of contention being… “Does peaceful resistance to laws positively or negatively impact a free society?” Although there have been instances where resistance to law has ended badly‚ PEACEFUL resistance‚ with full acceptance of the consequences‚ has produced more beneficial fruits. For the purposes
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In a democracy we have a moral duty in general to obey the laws or to attempt altering laws we don’t like through the electoral process. In America civil disobedience cannot be justified since it goes against the ideals of democracy. Living in a country where there are legal solutions to a problem that can take months or years to solve‚ people must voice their concerns and rebel against the government through grassroots movements and protests. Breaking laws that were created to protect the government
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The word free society is a very loose word‚ when used in a context so strong. People who resist the law‚ are they considered free? People who abide by everything‚ are they considered good people? Rosa Parks made a mark in history with her civil disobedience‚ and at the time it was wrong. Yet today‚ it has positively impacted our free society. She didn’t peacefully abide by any law‚ she did what she thought to be right. Right and wrong‚ good and bad‚ these questions permeate our minds. Some instances
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Luther King wrote a letter from Birmingham jail that was addressed to the eight leaders of the white Church of the South‚ the “white moderates”. Dr. King’s letter talks about how unfair the white Americans were towards the black community‚ and how true civil rights could never be achieved. Throughout his letter‚ King talks about how unfair the white Americans were towards the black nation‚ he talks about the disrespect‚ unfair and unjust treatment the black community had received from the white Americans
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the British influence on his country‚ and wanted people to live freely. Although Gandhi could have chosen other methods to achieve Indian independence‚ his nonviolent civil disobedience‚ willingness to be incarcerated‚ and not viewing Britain as an enemy‚ led to an India independent from British rule. Gandhi used civil disobedience‚ the act of defying laws peacefully‚ as a way for him to spread his idea of an independent India across the globe. The British imposed salt tax law on colonial India‚
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“Antigone” by Sophocles and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. both shows civil disobedience as a way to take a stand for what the protagonist believes in; the latter is less of a story but more of a rebuttal in writing to those who disagreed with Dr. King’s methods of gaining equality and desegregation of the south. The two authors saw a need for civil disobedience. In “Antigone” the protagonist decided that despite what the king had said she was going to follow
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amount of outrage would ever make this pacifist take arms. Maybe the most powerful revolt‚ civil disobedience‚ was used to repeal this restraining law. Never before had civil disobedience seen such a large mass of people. More than 60‚000 of his loyal followers traveled to the sea to make salt with him until the law was repealed. Britain was shamed by this unresisting force and gave in to the power of disobedience. One of the most fascinating concepts about Gandhi is his fight for nonviolence. In Emerson’s
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The fundamental principles behind our Founding Fathers’ choice to rebel against the tyranny of the British Empire are that people have their innate rights to life‚ liberty‚ and the pursuit of happiness‚ and that the government’s function is to defend its citizens from being deprived of these natural rights by foreign or domestic enemies. When the government fails to do this by “amassing too much power and becoming tyrannical‚” the people have no choice but to exercise their original right of self-defense
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Civil Disobedience My favorite quote from the first couple of paragraphs was‚“ I think we should be men first‚ and subjects after.” I believe Thoreau’s thinking behind this quote was men were treated as government’s projects‚ instead of being themselves. From this quote the reader is able to see how men had no freedom and were treated like slaves of the government. They were forced to do things the government wanted them to do‚ instead of doing things they liked to do. Thoreau also shows that
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to change‚ then do everything in your power to change it. He said “Must the citizen ever for a moment‚ or in the least degree‚ resign his conscience to the legislation? Why has every man a conscience‚ then?” (Saxby 2). His overall message in Civil Disobedience was that Americans have the inalienable right to think for themselves and have an independent conscience so use it to one’s full advantage. Like Sojourner Truth‚ Thoreau thought that if Americans‚ both men and women regardless of color‚ would
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