Blog 3

Civil Disobedience: David Henry Thoreau

Government

In the eyes of David Henry Thoreau, the United States is an unjust government system. He believes that the government is not useful and gets their power from believing that they are the majority and strongest group. This means, that although they might not obtain the most legitimate ideas and viewpoints on certain subjects, that because they are greater in population, they hold the most say. In his essay, "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau discusses that people should rebel when a government is prejudiced. He states that an individual should not be forced to rid the world of its wrongs, but should be able to stay away from those wrongs and not participate in them. In comparing the government of Thoreau's time to the government that we have acquired today, one would say that the two are quite relatable. First of all, there is corruption in any form of government, but it is not always as hidden in today's day in age because of all of the media and expansive amounts of information that we can find wherever and whenever we want. Through his work, he also participates in rebellious acts. When he refused to pay his taxes, he spent a night in jail. He also talks about this being relatable to a form of protest, which has been very evident in the news lately. And although we don't always agree with what the government is doing, (for example: this year's candidates) Thoreau agrees that as long as we are doing what we believe is right, then our ways should be accepted by the government.

Henry David Thoreau was against the United States government because it

supported slavery and had gotten very involved within the Mexican-American war.

Mexican-American War

Because of David Henry Thoreau's belief of a corrupt American government system, it is no wonder that he got actively involved within the Mexican-American War. Thoreau was so passionate on the subject of slavery, that he spent a night in jail to prove a point about how unjust and unfair this corruption was. Based on an article from Standford's educational website, "...a person should not be dismissed as “insane” by virtue of dissenting from the majority: his anger is grounded upon an awareness of the fact that slavery is a violation of human rights, and the law-abiding citizens of Massachusetts are not excused for turning away from this reality" Thoreau further discusses the importance of slavery and how negative of an impact it is having on society. During this time period, James K. Polk was the president of the United States. He was in fact the one to initiate the war, as military confrontation was an issue among the borders. Polk desired to invade the land of Mexico and expand. He believed that it was his right to expand across the border because they had more people attempting to seek new land and start new lives there. This event probably fueled Thoreau's reaction towards the war because the U.S. government would be taking over land that was not originally theirs and would take advantage of the people already living there, and potentially holding them as prisoners, or making them their newfound slaves. Overall, the Mexican-American war had an negative effect on the U.S. in Thoreau's eyes and went against almost everything that he believed him.

The ending result of the Mexican-American war led to a change in border,

which would lead to border conflicts within a new outside power (The United States of America).