Henry David Thoreau's Peaceful Protests

America was founded on the idea of peaceful resistance to both laws and the government in place. When colonists wanted to show Great Britain their distaste for the King's ruling of them, they dumped many barrels of tea from British ships in Boston Harbor into the water. This ignited the revolutionary flame amid the colonies and ultimately led to the revolutionary war. Without that act of peaceful resistance, the King would not have received the message from the colonists that they were no longer going to sit quietly and let him take advantage of them by taxing them without representation and forcing them to buy British products.

In a free society such as America the citizens that reside in it are entitled to many freedoms and liberties. The right to protest is protected under these liberties as the entire point of the first amendment of the American Constitution is to protect freedom of speech. The first amendment is open to interpretations but it explicitly states “Congress shall make no law… the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech” (U.S Const. amend. I).

Hello Mrs.Foreman and classmates. Lately, many people have been asking, “Why do people protest? “ and “Why is protesting important?”. The most important reason that people protest is to fight for what they believe in.

Does peaceful resistance to laws positively or negatively impact a free society? peaceful RESISTANCE TO LAWS POSITIVELY IMPACT A FREE SOCIETY. Nonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals such as a social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political non cooperation, satyagraha, or other methods, without using violence. This type of action eagers the individuals being part of the resistance, that something needs to change to improve the current condition of the resisting person group. Martin Luther King Jr. , is well known as a peaceful resistances leader for cicil rights.

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.

Shays’ Rebellion Essay Shays’ Rebellion was when a group of farmers protested against the government shortly after America gained its independence. Although these farmers rebelled against the government, nevertheless they stood up, aimed to help country, and their actions had lasting effects affecting the government. These protesters stood up against the government. It is important to realize that “ the people who have stepped up to demand rights for themselves and others are most likely to be put in jail.” These jails they were put in were often far away from their homes.

All of the first ten amendments provided by the Bill of Rights resulted from a young United States' fear of the power of government. The rights to assemble and petition are two of the basic principles of the Bill of Rights, and allows citizens to challenge government authority without fear of retaliation or punishment. There is a difference, however, between peaceful and violent protesting. When comparing the civil rights protests of the late 20th century with the recent protests over suspected police brutality, the difference is clear. As the Bill of Rights blatantly states that it is peaceful protests that are allowed, the impacts of the two are different.

Indiscriminate peaceful resistance to laws is harmful to a society. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws, however, is not only good for a society, but fundamental to a free one. If the people put up no resistance to unjust laws, they are merely slaves of the state, without freedom. An unjust law is a law which either violates the natural rights of the people or forces them to act against their conscience. Although a few situations call for armed resistance, as the Declaration of Independence notes, most situations do not and peaceful resistance will almost always further the common good.

Some say that peaceful protesting is nonviolent. Some say it 's a crime. And then there 's people who kneel. But why is nonviolent resistance have such an impact? Studies show that organizations who decide to go the nonviolent route for resistance end up achieving their goal 53 percent of the time, than the others who achieve their goal 23 percent of the time.

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.

Peaceful resistance is essential to a free society. It sets a good example, expresses interest groups' messages, and ensures those messages are considered and heard. Resistance will always exist. According to James Madison, it is impossible to destroy the root of factions, since that would take away the people's freedom.

Peaceful resistance to laws has a positive impact on a free society. This allows the people of the community to have a say so in which the society is ran. Some people say peaceful resistance is to keep the government in check. Civil disobedience can change the society and raise awareness to disparities. Peaceful resistance is very productive to uphold a free society.

Peaceful resistance positively affects our country in ways that are so essential to our American way of life. If America did not have a way to peacefully share their opinions and political views, opinions would rupture and would turn violent. America has a democratic process for this very reason built into it’s government. In fact, the whole government was built on the idea that the people should appoint the leaders that rule the country and if those leaders did not rule justly, to rightly replace them. Peaceful resistance is one of our rights as Americans.

Peaceful resistance is necessary for social change. The founders of the United States believed in this idea when writing the Declaration of Independence. John Locke, an enlightenment thinker who our founding fathers took ideas from, came up with the idea of the social contract. This is the agreement that a government and its people have and when citizens feel their government is wronging them then they have the right to revolt. Civil disobedience is a form of expressing the social contract and the consent of the governed.

One day in my Honors World History class sophomore year we began to learn about the start of rapid, aggressive imperialism along with the rise of fascism and totalitarian governments. As we delved deeper into this era of history, we began to cover the rise of Hitler and the extermination of the Jews. Like any other person, I could not begin to comprehend how the masses of people, a whole country, would approve of such hate and racist rhetoric. As I continued to try and realize how such actions could be justified, I looked at other examples in history of hate being the norm. I realized this was a pattern in history, exploring slavery, the rule of Stalin, the Armenian Genocide, and other injustices through time.