Compare And Contrast Thoreau And Thomas Jefferson

Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Resistance to Civil Government” was published in the year 1849 succeeding a night spent in jail for not complying to pay his taxes. Thoreau’s purpose for writing the essay was to impel people to not support or accept the government's stance on situations if they disagreed with the government's position. In Thoreau’s case one of these issues was The Mexican-american war. His opposition to the war was one of the main ideas in Thoreau’s essay. He protested the government’s war the by not paying his taxes which landed him a night in jail.

John Locke, a 17th century philosopher from England, was a man who contained many ideas and theories on how particular civilizations should operate. John Locke philosophized “that there was an unspoken law amongst men known as “The Law of Nature” (“state of nature” Locke). The “law of nature” depicts a community in which there was only moral law. Thus the “law of nature” portrays a “state of perfect freedom where all men share their equality” (“state of nature”4). This statement basically states that “no one has power over another and are free (Locke 4)” to govern themselves accordingly.

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” advocates for societal change. A common misconception of the essay is that it is strictly about peaceful protest. In addition to resisting civil government, Thoreau supported John Brown’s raid and movements of naturalism not for the purpose of political activism but because he truly believed in little government. As he states in his opening line, a “government is best which governs not at all”, Thoreau’s stance on small government arose from the divisive issues of the Mexican-American War and slavery (Thoreau 1). Even though this may seem to grab the attention of the public today, Thoreau’s unorthodox beliefs expressed in “Civil Disobedience” were largely ignored in most of the 19th century.

Throughout history there have been many political changes that are either supported, or not, by citizens. In the given passage from, "Civil Disobedience," by Thoreau, a perspective of disagreeing with the government ways, is provided. Thoreau explains how a government should be in comparison to how it really is by utilizing his words to set the tone and mode, imagery to achieve his audience's understanding, and diction to make his writing scholarly. Although tone and mode are not directly stated, you can infer that Thoreau meant for his writing to be taken as serious and powerful. His implementation of words such as, "inexpedient," "execute," " integrity," and "command," makes one think about their lawful rights and reflect on what rights are supported or

Thoreau was a poet and philosopher that wanted to lead people to a small self government. Gandhi was a political and spiritual leader that calls for india’s independence from Britain and other thing’s, protesting through non violence. Thoreau and Gandhi were both people that wanted to persuade others to follow their cause and did so in different ways, they both have similarities and differences. Thoreau’s and Gandhi’s similarities were that they both i were both people that wanted to persuade others to follow their causes, and they did so in different ways. there are some similarities as well, so they are good things to compare and contrast.

Under the circumstance Thoreau describes I do believe that civil disobedience is a duty. However, I think that Thoreau greatly exaggerates the conditions he was in at the time and takes a very narrow view of his setting. I agree with Thoreau's arguments that when the government is to the point of falling apart and harming citizens then people need to revolute against the government. I particularly like his analogy to the friction in the machine, symbolizing that the ends do not justify the means. Furthermore, I think that Thoreau is correct in pointing out how people behave when they notice something is wrong, but take no action to fix it.

In “Civil Disobedience”, Thoreau discusses the way the government should be like and criticizes America’s government and the criminal justice system. Thoreau thinks the government should not rule society but instead the people should manage the state’s affairs. According to Thoreau, America’s government does not maintain the freedom of its residents, teach, or conquer “the West” .Furthermore ,throughout this essay, Thoreau refers to banning slavery in America and the supporters of banning slavery . How can by just at least one individual, in Massachusetts ,stop having slaves and be put in prison initiate the end of slavery in the United states ? Jail is perceived as a place where individuals are punished for their wrongdoings and are cut off

Thoreau 's “On Civil Disobedience”, published in 1849, promotes the idea that people have an obligation towards their moral values, and thus they must stand up for those values, even if those are opposed to the government. Thoreau emphasizes the significant roles that authenticity and activism play in one’s life, which encourage action and renounce determinism. By presenting the central ideas that arise from this essay, I will argue that Thoreau, supported by Locke’s Treatise of Government, exhibits ideas affiliated with Libertarianism. In contrast to the hypothesis that a priori knowledge is the only kind of knowledge that expresses certainty about ontological truths, independent of external experience, Transcendentalism advances the idea that there is also an internal a priori kind of knowledge which is reliable and expresses each individual’s truth.

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.

“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