Furthermore, the majority cannot be trusted to make the morally correct decision. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.” Here, Thoreau discusses the point that the majority does not always have the best interest of the minorities at heart. Its is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. Civil Disobedience: resisting acts of government that are against one’s conscience or morals, or that ultimately contribute to ethically disagreeable actsĢ “After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest…I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. Thoreau: Transcendentalist living during time of abolition movement, Mexican War, and shortly after Indian Removal Thoreau wrote many essays, most famous include “Walden,” describing his life at Walden Pond, and “Civil Disobedience,” an essay discussing what to do when faced with immoral acts of government and the desire to live and honest life. 1 Henry David Thoreau and Civil Disobedience
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