Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience: The Role Of Women

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” speaks to many political issues and how to handle them. He felt the government was corrupt for their continual use of slavery and that one “cannot without disgrace be associated with it” (150). On the point of the government enforcing laws, Thoreau calls for men to do nothing. By nothing, he means to not give the government power over them which would effectively be “peaceable revolution” (154). Americans complain about the way the government is run, yet they do nothing while allowing the government to do as they please. Thoreau argues that “a wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor with it to prevail through the power of the majority,” by which he means the power of voting (151). In today’s politics, people are called to make their voice heard but do it peacefully which are two strong premises in Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”.

Catharine Beecher calls for an acceptance of the subordinate, yet important role of women in the home in A Treatise on Domestic Economy. Beecher believes that “in a truly democratic state” that women would have the right to make their own choices. Conversely, in Beecher’s time women are simply built for different things than men. Women “are made subordinate in station, only where a regard to their best interest demands it” (131). Perhaps the

His were the first images of the West for the people of the East. The focus is the landscape, the potential for John L. O’Sullivan’s manifest destiny in “Annexation.” In the forefront, the land is lush with flora and water. The background depicts mysterious and misty mountains in the distance. These parts of the painting are a promise that the West is a good place to go, encouraging and enticing the people of the East. Perhaps the least detailed part of the painting is the Native peoples. They are made to look benign obstacles to the great beauty of the West instead of a