Thoreau and Machiavelli ideologies are similar because they both describes how leaders and people should response towards each other. Thoreau conclude in his essay that our government system is flaws therefore we must create a new form of government. He implies that people should resist unjust laws because government system are corrupt and reveals machinery people should stop listening to them without questioning. In the essay he indicate that “legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the State chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God”. This clearly supports the author view on our government system is vicious because they serve as evil and they hide their …show more content…
The author explains Hannibal was a powerful leader because he was insanely cruel and he is able to control over his troops. Machiavelli wants effective prince to have this qualities and he implies that every prince must be cruel when he is commands an army so he can control his troops. Therefore, both Machiavelli and Thoreau is alike because one describe how people should react to unjust government and one describes how prince should react to the people. On the contrary, their ideologies are different because Thoreau’s view on taxes is dissimilar from Machiavelli. Thoreau uses the irony of jail and the jail should be like hell, strict, and less freedom, however Thoreau feels greater freedom inside the jail and he believes that jail is the best place for the men. Thoreau points out that, “but, if I deny the authority of the State when it presents its 17 tax-bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my children without
Machiavelli’s book also suggests that a ruler should be feared by everyone that dares to face him. At this time, one ruler appeared to be more daunting than a chain of command. Another major idea spread during this time period was the idea of a social contract, from “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes. He explains that if two people desire the same thing which they cannot both enjoy, they will end up destroying each other. Two people should be able to lay down their right to all things and be contempt with having as much as another person has, instead of trying to fight with them in order to gain more.
Thoreau starts his essay by condemning his fellow countrymen’s actions, or rather, inaction. They and Thoreau share similar moral beliefs, but they refuse to take any action towards them. “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or
Thoreau and King’s beliefs are similar as they both believe men are inherently moral, but have been ruined by society, and a natural state is necessary; and they respected the law and saw the good and bad in the government. Thoreau and King both believed all people were born with a good
Philosophical ideas impacted human history, particularly in government. Niccolo Machiavelli and John Locke ideation molded human history on how power should be divided equally amongst the people and the ruler. Their theories began the steps to construction of the U.S government. Machiavelli ideas migrated the power in monarchies away form the power of the church to the King/Queen. Particularly starting in Florence during the renaissance and political enlightenment.
Civil Disobedience In the dictionary civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest, but Thoreau and Martin Luther King have their own beliefs to civil disobedience. In Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” he writes about the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. Martin Luther King uses civil disobedience as something that effectuates change in the government. Both Thoreau and Martin Luther King has similar yet different perspectives on civil disobedience.
The main similarity in the writings of Thomas Jefferson and Henry David Thoreau is the idea of revolution against an abusive government. The main difference is the context in which each document was written, the Declaration of Independence as the colonies were rebelling against Great Britain and forming their own government, and Civil Disobedience as criticisms of the government developed within nearly seventy-five years after the signing of the Declaration. Both Jefferson and Thoreau share ideas of revolution, although overthrowing the government is seen in many cases as illegal. Both documents share a common theme of revolution, and both authors believe the best way to move toward a better government is civil disobedience. Jefferson and Thoreau believe that whether it is the struggle for independence or being freed from injustices of the government, civil disobedience and revolution are necessary in order to live in a society based on freedom.
In my opinion Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. have very similar purposes in their writings. Both author 's are writing to protest unfair laws. But they also have very different audiences. In Civil Disobediance, Thoreau writes how those who break unjust laws should suffer the consequences as a protest to the laws.
Fredrick Douglas and Henry David Thoreau have the same ideas yet different experiences which shine through their writings. The main idea is that I would have had no idea that Thoreau was an abolitionist from this writing alone. This excerpt from Thoreau is extremely philosophical, as were most of his other writings, and could only loosely be applied to the issue of slavery while Douglas’ writing was strictly an autobiography. This simple difference goes a long way in highlighting their differences as rights activists. Douglas is direct and evokes change through his actions and words while Thoreau is indirect, yet he makes you think about your decisions and how they affect the world around you.
The key to deconstructing Thoreau's argument is to understand his hierarchy of government and the individual. Thoreau's ideal communion between the individual and the state is manifest by the individual as a "higher and independent power". This relationship is entertained in Civil Disobedience in the analysis of Thoreau's 1846 imprisonment, in which Thoreau demonstrated freedom as an internal and subjective
Mr. Thoreau argues that people should not allow any government to control or atrophy their thoughts or beliefs. Mr. Thoreau was an also remained a devoted abolitionist and has written
Thus that a person ought to do as he does and not agree to pay taxes to the state that is in support of such evil customs or practices. While both King and Thoreau triumph in their establishment of a firm perception of what they strongly have faith in, they both are successful in their efforts to persuade through different means. Regarding the manner in which King draws emotional appeal through passionate speech, we also see with Thoreau when he makes apparent that he is devoted in what he stands for. Thus attracting more appeal through being more troubled and concerned instead of being innocently optimistic and hopeful. Nevertheless, similarities weigh against differences as both King and Thoreau give reliability to the moral
Compare and Contrast Between the 2 articles on similar themes, there are 4 reasons. (1) Gandhi and Thoreau both would not agree in certain things like laws. (2) Gandhi and Thoreau discussed civil disobedience. (3) Gandhi and Thoreau were influenced in writing their expressions, and how both wrote their expressions against the government and laws. Gandhi and Thoreau have different perspectives of the laws, and what people should follow.
In Self-Reliance Emerson’s prison is a figurative allusion of the conformity of society. In Thoreau’s Resistance to Civil Government Thoreau literally gets placed into prison. However, in Thoreau’s text prison is correspondingly a metaphor for society and its continued conformity. In both texts the writer’s persuasive tone beseeches the reader to not consent to the social-contracts of society. In Emerson’s Self-Reliance and Thoreau’s Resistance to Civil Government prison is a symbol of being confined in a society that does not accept individualism, but rather accepts and requires the majority and conformism of all citizens and men.
Both Thoreau and Confucius placed value on relationships. They both emphasised that each person has some responsibility. While, Confucius would view the management of natural resources be in government's control, due to a balance between the government and the people and their needs. Government serves the people as the people serve the government. Arguably, Thoreau would emphasise the implementation of minimalism into the lifestyle of the average citizen, as the duties should be managed by the people over the state, believing “That government is best which governs
This citation shows that Thoreau did not want to follow the laws. Thoreau also believed in living life by following moral law and not law stated in the constitution. Thoreau also believed that the government does best if it does not rule over the people. In the essay Civil Disobedience it says “That government is best which governs least”. This shows what Thoreau felt the government should not do.