Henry David Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience in 1849. Although Thoreau’s work in general was underrated at the time, this particular work became enormously influential in the following century.

One of Thoreau’s main points is that a government is made up of people within that government. It is useless to complain and complain about the government, because that government is you. You have chosen it. It is a government for the people, by the people. Thoreau believed that the main purpose of a government is to defend morality and justice for its citizens. If a government acts unjustly, then it is the fault of the people and the only course of action is to change it.

Thoreau wrote this essay when slavery was a hot topic, and slavery is a prominent topic throughout this work. Thoreau thought slavery was wrong, and a government that behaved immorally by allowing it was not a government that acted in their best interests. Because of this, he refused to pay taxes as a demonstration of his idea of ​​civil disobedience.

For refusing to pay taxes, Thoreau was imprisoned. It was then that he pronounced his famous phrase: “Under a government that imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”

Thoreau says voting is not enough. You don’t think majority rule is the best way to do things. Compare this process to that of a neighbor who has cheated you of a dollar. Would you go door to door collecting signatures saying your neighbor should return your dollar? Would you vote among your neighbors? Would you stand on the side of the road with a sign urging people to honk if your neighbor returned the dollar? No, you wouldn’t do any of these things. You would demand your dollar back, and if he refuses, you will never do business with him again. Thoreau says this is how we should approach our interactions with the government.

When you hear the term “civil disobedience”, you may think of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi. This is for good reason. These men were influenced by Thoreau’s work and used the principle of civil disobedience to completely change the way their respective societies operated. Martin Luther King saw the injustice. I knew that if we waited for people to vote for African Americans to have the same rights, they might never get them. So he organized bus boycotts and urged people to disobey. The results speak for themselves.

Civil disobedience is not about anarchy or disobeying authorities on its own. It’s about loving the government and doing your best. Above all, Thoreau teaches that if there is something you don’t like about our government, then take action and change it!