Thoreau and King, Jr. :: American America History

Thoreau and King, Jr.There are times throughout the history of the United States when its citizens have felt the remove to revolt against the government. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau, when there was unfair discrimination against the Afro-American community and Americans refusing to pay crest taxes to permit the Mexican War. They used civilised disobedience to eventually constrict legislation to stop the injustice brought against them and their nation. Civil disobedience is defined as refusal to obey civil laws or decrees, which usually takes the form of passive resistance. People practicing civil disobedience break a law because they consider the law unjust, and want to call solicitude to its injustice, hoping to bring about its withdrawal.Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town discard for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive r esistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as An expression of the individuals liberty to create change (Thoreau 530). Thoreau felt that the government had established order that resisted reform and change. sue from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations it is essentially revolutionary (Thoreau 531).Thoreau refused to pay the poll tax because the silver was being used to finance the Mexican War. Not exactly was Thoreau against the war itself but the war was over Texas which was to be used as a slave state. His friend Staples offered to pay the tax for him, but to Thoreau it wasnt the tax he was objected to, it was how the money would be used. He believed strongly against paying money to a war he did not support, and would rather end up in jail than go against his will. A certain passage shows how strong he felt when he said Your money is your life, why should I haste to give it my money? (Thoreau 538). It was important to Thoreau to get the public informed about the War, and make people think why it was wrong to support it. Thoreau didnt rally hundreds and thousands of people together to get reactions. Instead he went to jail to protest and wrote his essay Civil Disobedience. His statements were to get people to think and take their own approach to the situation.