Henry David Thoreau's Impact On Society

Henry David Thoreau was not afraid to speak his mind and fight for his beliefs. He refused to pay taxes to an unjust government that supported slavery which eventually influenced Mohandas Gandhi’s campaign for independence and still influences many individuals today. Thoreau inspired society to break rules they disagree with, be a unique individual, and criticized people for living only for money and material values.
One of Henry Thoreau’s biggest impacts was when he went to live in the woods for about two years at Walden Pond. While there, he grasped the attention of so many that were curious of his strange behavior, with this attention he decided to write a lecture to inform these people that life is simple if you value nature, reality, and simplicity. This work would be his most famous, receiving the name “Walden,” being a highly influential piece of work, resulting in the the Walden Woods project to raise the required money to buy and save land from development of any building.

As if Henry could not do anymore in his lifetime, he also had strong beliefs against slavery and was an outspoken abolitionist. He helped conduct the underground railroad to help escaped slaves travel to Canada. Henry also wrote strong opinionated worded attacks on the Fugitive Slave Law and on the execution of John Brown.
After his death and in the following century his writing became well known and appreciated. Now Henry David Thoreau is considered among the greatest of all American writers and had a huge, everlasting impact for the conservation movement. In conclusion, without Henry David Thoreau’s contribution, Yosemite would not be protected by the government, Walden Woods wouldn't exist today, and overall the conservation movement wouldn't have been so