Civil Disobedience

“Civil Disobedience” is one of the most impactful essays of all time. When it was written, the two great political controversies engulfing the United States were the Mexican-American War (which had ended by the time the lecture was published) and the debate over slavery. Henry David Thoreau opposed both the war (and indeed practically all war, but especially the war with Mexico, which he believed was being fought to expand slavery in the United States) and the institution of slavery, as is made clear in the text. Given this context, Thoreau’s essay is both a practical call to action for his neighbors and a theoretical analysis of morality, justice, and virtue.

On the hand, Thoreau advocates the direct actions of not paying taxes and of not assisting the State’s actions, since the State uses tax dollars to fund injustice. More broadly ,the essay also discusses the role conscience ought to play in determining an individual’s relationship with the State. The essay’s theoretical framework is what has caused it to endure to this day, but it also makes Thoreau’s argument more potent in its time too. By making a universal argument about the virtues of citizenship, Thoreau effectively points out the hypocrisy of being against slavery or war yet supporting the institutions that enforce or create them.