henry david thoreau and civil disobedience

Each participant was armed only with a sign and her voice in the true spirit of peaceful protest. The Women’s March in DC drew from 470,000 to 680,000 participants, The Atlantic reported. On January 2, all around the world, women and their allies left their jobs, homes, and families and organized in massive marches. Women March in front of the Capital Building Following Thoreau’s model of non-violent civil disobedience, people took to the streets. After a controversial election, many people were concerned about hot-button issues like women’s rights, science, the environment, and taxes. In this day and age, more freedoms are allowed to people who wish to protest for the issues in which they believe. Henry was thrown in jail because he refused to pay a poll tax he found unjust. One of his most profound collection of essays was “Civil Disobedience,” which postulated how much loyalty an unjust, corrupt, or in any way ineffective government deserves from the citizen who cares about the future of the country he or she lives in. With so many opinions vying for our attention, it provides great insight to look back at the words of a pioneer of civil disobedience for desperately needed guidance today.Ī prominent writer and abolitionist, Henry David Thoreau was famous for his essays on various topics in his era.

The country we live in today is at a turning point in its history. It takes only one click of a button to be assaulted by conflicting and contradictory opinions from both sides of the aisle.

Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.

Henry david thoreau and civil disobedience