IS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE JUSTIFIED? “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy‚ indifference‚ and undernourishment". 1 “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful‚ committed individuals can change the world. Indeed‚ it ’s the only thing that ever has."2 History has shown us through the likes of Mahatma Gandhi‚ Martin Luther King Jr. who went against the greater power of their time to fight for injustice. These few respectable
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Garza Mr. Kibler APUSH – 7th Hour October 17‚ 2014 Civil Disobedience The main idea of this essay is that the majority is not always right and men should let their conscience govern them and not the government itself. The message being conveyed is that people should follow what they think is right instead of going with the crowd/majority even if it means going against the government. The author of “Civil Disobedience” is Henry David Thoreau. He was an American philosopher‚ poet‚ and environmental
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Cannon 30 April 2013 Civil Disobedience When should civil disobedience be justified? Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey government laws‚ in an effort to bring upon a change in governmental policy or legislation. Civil disobedience is not an effort to dissolve the American government‚ because without government our society would result in chaos. Sometimes‚ when there is an unjust law and the government won’t take the initiative to fix it‚ the public must act as civil disobedient to bring
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Civil Disobedience Based on the writings of Henry David Thoreau it is very relevant that he is very opposed to government involvement of any kind. He doesn’t believe that the government should be involved in everyday life. Thoreau doesn’t understand the point of having a government system that will be useful to everyone and not just a select few. Thoreau proceeds to explain his many reasons as to why the “government is best [when it] governs [the] least.” He thought people should stand up to the
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Henry David Thoreau INTRODUCTION Henry David Thoreau was an American author‚ poet‚ abolitionist‚ naturalist‚ tax resister‚ development critic‚ surveyor‚ historian ‚ philosopher andtranscendentalist. Henry David Thoreau was a complex man of many talents who worked hard to shape his craft and his life. He is best known for his book Walden‚ a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings‚ and his essay‚ Civil Disobedience‚ an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral
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Henry David Thoreau‚ the father of Civil Disobedience‚ one of his famous quotes is “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. In my opinion‚
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sentencing of Socrates‚ facilitating a discussion about an individual’s morality in abiding by the law. Socrates does show us that civil law should be treated as a moral obligation‚ by proving that to ignore the rule of law would be to commit moral wrong. He then qualifies this by illustrating that lawfulness is not always equal to virtuousness‚ and explaining how to remain virtuous without damaging the authority of the law. Further examination of his arguments in regards to civil disobedience reveal inconsistency
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Civil Disobedience On April 29‚ 1992‚ the City of Los Angeles was surrounded in a riot in response to the "not guilty" verdicts in the trial of four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers accused of unlawfully beating Rodney King. Six days later‚ when the fires were finally extinguished and the smoke had cleared‚ "estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion‚ 54 people had been killed‚ more than 2000 injured‚ in excess of 800 structures were
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“It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen” (Aristotle‚ Nicomachean Ethics). Although civil disobedience may cause divisive rhetoric and chaos‚ nonviolent resistance positively impacts a free society by providing an impetus for progress and starting a dialogue about injustice. Our nation was founded on principles of civil disobedience. In Federalist #51‚ James Madison proclaimed‚ “If angels were to govern men‚ neither external nor internal controls on government would
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Henry David Thoreau "Simplify! was Thoreau ’s motto" in his life (Stanley 20). He showed people how to live simple life by living a simple life in Walden. Due to Thoreau ’s efforts and works on nature people considers a nature an important part in their lives‚ as a result nature became one of the top topics in 21st century. Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12‚ 1817‚ in Concord‚ Massachusetts (Meltzer 11). His parents were John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau (12). Henry had three siblings
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