Civil Disobedience In The 60's

Throughout the history of society, civil disobedience has become a key tool in combating laws seen as unjust. It was used thoroughly in the civil rights movement and was integral to the advancement of equality. The reason that civil disobedience plays such an important role in the advancement of rights is because of how effective it has been. The best way to make people aware of and relate to a movement is to make it well known. Events such as Bloody Sunday and the Montgomery Bus Boycott helped the civil rights movement gain much of the momentum that guaranteed its success.

In “Civil Disobedience”, Henry David states “That government is best which governs not all.” Henry is saying the government that has less rules is the best government. I highly disagree with Henry. My reasoning is because we have crazy people all around the world and not having a lot of rules will be scary. In Downtown Memphis, there was a protest going on at the Memphis bridge.

The relationship between a government and its citizens must maintain the perfect balance between giving and taking. The relationship consists of constant checks and balances; however, it normally goes awry because either the disobedience is ineffective, or the authority is tyrannical. Typically, the relationship between a government and its citizens holds tension. The tension in the relationship stems from poor communication. Citizens communicate their grievances to the government through disobedience; therefore, the government communicates back by reestablishing order.

Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society. In the case of the Civil Rights Movement, peaceful resistance led to desegregation. Civil disobedience aided in the decision of Brown v. Topeka which overturned the “separate but equal” decision of Plessy v. Ferguson. Plessy disobeyed a Louisiana law by not sitting in a Jim Crow car. This civil disobedience led to the Supreme Court decision.

I believe peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. As citizens of the United States, we are born with certain natural rights. According to John Locke, an eighteenth century philosopher, natural rights are not bestowed by the government, but inherited by birth by virtue of the fact that we are human beings. These natural rights include life, liberty, and property. He theorized that the purpose of government was to protect those rights; and if it did not, it would lose its legitimacy and need not be obeyed.

Violence cannot solve everything because in the aftermath, both parties suffer severely. We the people can effectively solve problems without losing a drop of blood, which is called civil disobedience. Instead of attacking directly, people can deteriorate the society insidiously through political, economic, or social means. Civil disobedience produces immense impact only if a group of people actively preach the idea and accept consequences of their actions. Everyone can write a speech and talk about what they believe is right for the society, but it is not easily accomplished if words are not backed up by action.

Historically, America has always been a land of rebellious individuals. Since inception, the idea of being subordinated into compliance never set well with the rugged individual spirit. The protests escalated from the stubborn refusal of paying taxes, but the message still remains: controlled protests have paved the way for increased political conversation and improved democracy, despite the claim that it is too rebellious. As a young nation, many elements of government and civilian life continually evolve. Increasing discussion on these issues leads to a better relationship between the people and the government.

Civil disobedience is an act or exercise that is employed so that change through direct or indirect action is taken in order to seize the attention of immoral objective found within a situation. The African Americans living in Chicago used this by exhibiting the civil movements through their visual art and music. The time period in which their art influences took place was during the Harlem Renaissance of 1920’s through 1930’s.

Trascendentialists writers such as Raph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreu seemed to believe in the illusional idea that society is bad and that government control should be minimalized. Although the utopian ideas they present may sound good in paper, when applied in real life it would be disastrous. In the first place, a corrupt government is better than no government at all. If you look at countries with massive corruption like Honduras, of course you notice the poverty and the violence, but how would that get better without a government?

Civil disobediences are nonviolent actions or protests that violates the law. People will normally do this when they believe that the government is unjust in the treatment of people. The protests and nonviolent actions are reciprocal reaction to the government to showcase the citizens’ need for justice and equality. The act of civil disobedience requires a lot of patience, bravery, and pain to go against the law in hope of seeing a change. Martin Luther King Jr is well known for his demonstrations of civil disobediences.

Passive Resistance is also known as civil disobedience which is an act of a nonviolent protest against the government. What are some thoughts on passive resistance? So many leaders went about this way, one of the leaders is Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi looked up to Martin Luther King Jr. and what he had done for that Civil Rights movement.

“Civil Disobedience" is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau who was an “American transcendentalist society in 1849” (“Give Me Liberty”, chap 9). In this essay Thoreau argued that people should not allow their government to override or weaken their consciences because they have a duty to avoid allowing any agreement to authorize the government to make them the proper workers of discrimination. An evidence that gives us this form of information is “The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it” (“Civil Disobedience”, par 1, pg 1). Thoreau meant that the government sometimes proves itself useful and that it

In the United States we live in a free society where the government is based off the needs and wants of its citizens. The definition of civil disobedience is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Basically it is saying that if you want a change you can protest it but at the same time you are putting yourself in a position to be punished if you completely disobey the law. If a law is passed that a group of people disagree with, then they have the right to gather together and protest that law. This right to protest is part of one’s freedom of speech found in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.