If American people in the past had not participated in peaceful resistance, the United States would not be the same nation as it is today. Many people argue that because the United States took so long to be created, public defiance to laws should not be encouraged. However, civil disobedience to laws often positively affects the free society in many ways. Not only has this changed the United States in the past, but even now allows for people to peacefully protest for what they think is right.
Civil disobedience encourages the voice of the people to be heard: for it to be acted upon. A modern day example of this includes the protests against the Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline project. The 2,000 environmental activists commit acts such as sit-ins, showing that they will stand up for their beliefs. Even though 162 activists have been arrested, these people continue to fight this injustice. Actions such as these are positive for the nation's free culture, forcing the government to acknowledge the people's role in society. The protesters against the Keystone project exemplify Americans using their freedom to get change. They force the government to decide if the people are wrong, or if the government itself needs to adapt.
Peaceful
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The government has heeded the people's calls for equality and reason. However, this is an ongoing struggle. Anti-Trump protesters who recently shut down one of Donald Trump's Chicago rallies are saying that they will be doing some non-violent protesting. They demand for their voices to be heard and for the Democracy to be preserved. Overall, this is the main point of civil disobedience. It encourages people to use and uphold their American rights, and peacefully argue for laws that will help the United States. Civil disobedience makes the nation's society stronger by putting responsibility on its people and
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.
Our disobedience enstils the passion our contemporary society continues to have for what we feel is just. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws benefits a free society by giving the American people a voice in government. History and contemporary media has proven that protesting our governmental ideals is a strong and powerful means of changing the government. Martin Luther King Jr. protested the horrendous treatment of African-Americans in the 1960s by bringing people together in order to end racial segregation in the United States. King included in his Letter From Birmingham Jail that "an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”
It's easy to get angry and/or violent protests confused with civil disobedience. Many overlook the effectiveness of civil disobedience and see it as just another way to protest the government but civil disobedience has a long history. A few examples of civil disobedience include Rosa Parks’ famous refusal to move from the back of the bus in 1955; the interracial marriage between Richard and Mildred Loving in 1958; and most recently, the protest against the Dakota Access pipeline construction. In each instance, people stood up for what they thought was just and right.
Civil disobedience can mean many things to many people. To some people it could mean a non-violent means of protesting or attempting to achieve political goals; however, in the eyes of people like Martin Luther King Jr it could be different. He stated that “one has the moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”. Martin Luther King Jr prove this by doing many non-violent protest during his time, to fight against segregation. The meaning of civil disobedience is a bit different in Henry Thoreau’s eyes.
Civil disobedience is the refusal of something in a friendly manner. Politically, America is in a rough situation. America as a whole is slowly separating as a nation. For instance, African-Americans believe they are experiencing prejudice from “white” people. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana there a revolt organized by the infamous “Black Lives Matter” organization.
I consider civil disobedience to be an easily-ignored pillar upon which our democracy was founded. In fact we are only established as a nation now because our founding fathers engaged in civil disobedience themselves. We were in a “social contract” of sorts with Great Britain and when we felt that they had not upheld their part of the contract (they did not allow us to create courts to maintain order, or to create a navy to defend ourselves, or to sustain our economy due to an inability to trade with any other countries), Thomas Jefferson concluded that it was our not only our right, but also our duty to break away. And it was Thomas Jefferson that combined all of the works of the great thinkers before him such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke
The civil disobedience is to describe when the public refusal to obey the law or commands of a government that violate one's personal principals without the act of violence, as an effort to induce a change in governmental policy or legislation. The purpose is to force concessions from the government or occupying power. For example, if a group of people refuses to pay taxes as a peaceful way to express disapproval of those laws they disagree with or taxes. Civil disobedience may be appropriate when a democratically elected government uses its power to discriminate against their race, sex, religion or skin color. In such a situation, people would most liking object the Laws and start a protest to show they want to be treated equally.
Civil disobedience has always been a positive impact on a free society. It is a necessary freedom. We have seen in the past that it has made nothing but great changes. It has given me, and millions of other people countless opportunities. All of the people who have practiced civil disobedience have made revolutionary changes to our government.
Without former Americans’ use of protest the country would not be what it is today. Peaceful resistance to laws and policies have transformed the nation for the better and by the will of the people. The influence of protests throughout United States history illustrate democracy in its purest form. There are different ways and different effects of protest on the nation. Protest historically has positively changed US policy and government action.
Civil disobedience is the act of disobeying governmental commands in a peaceful, non-violent, form of protest. Throughout history, peaceful protest have had a positive impact on free society. Peaceful protest have had the biggest impact during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, many people have led non-violent protest for their rights, including well known African-American Activist, Martin Luther King Jr.. He was most famously known for his speech, I Have a Dream.
Civil disobedience against unjust laws established in our society is not done to cause chaos, but to promote equality amongst everyone in society and for the greater good. For example, in the 20th century, people took part in the Civil Rights movement where they protested against segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement that the government legalized. As a result of their efforts, the government passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination against a person based on their race, color, national origin, religion, and sex, resulting in greater equality for minorities. Due to the Civil Rights Act, it encouraged people with different identities and cultures to come together and exchange ideas, values, and beliefs with one another, and it ultimately moved society forward. In addition, Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist that was arrested because she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus.
Sit-ins were a justified act of civil disobedience during the civil rights movement because they were non-violent, they spread the news, they brought people together, and they helped people to stand up for themselves. One of the most important parts to civil disobedience is remaining non-violent. Sit-ins during the civil rights movement were great examples of remaining peaceful. There was a sit-in in Chicago that only happened because they were refused coffee.
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, is widely recognized as a powerful and persuasive example of nonviolent protest. In the letter, Dr. King explains his commitment to nonviolent protest to achieve social change. Dr. King says that nonviolent protests are morally just and also effective in overcoming unjust laws and corrupt systems. Dr. King said this in his letter from Birmingham Jail as an address toward making morally just laws and systems by taking non-violent actions. “So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends.
Civil disobedience is nonviolent resistance to a government’s law in seek of change. Civil disobedience is an effective way to bring about change because it is a harmless way of fighting an unjust law or idea, it can educate people about the cause, and it has been successful many times in history. First and foremost, civil disobedience is
Civil Disobedience is known as breaking the law because you don 't agree with a certain law or have a peaceful protest about that law or what you believe in. An example would be when Mahatma Gandhi walked miles to the Indian ocean as the citizens gathered more and more to fight for there Indian Independence. This occasion was called the Salt March. The reason for The Salt March was a March were all the citizens from India walked with gandhi to fight back for their Independence from the British, since it was taken away from the British.