For those of you who don’t know, Thoreau was an inspiring writer from the 19th century whose worked has influenced many people involved in social movements in the 1900’s. One example of Thoreau’s followers was Martin Luther King, who used Thoreau’s work to fight segregation during the 50’s and 60’s. One example of how Thoreau’s work was used to fight injustice in America was during the Vietnam War. At the time, the government were drafting of boys and men into the army to fight the war without their consent. People felt that this was unjust to draft people who did not voluntarily decide to join the army and fought for this to be changed. Because of Thoreau”s “Civil Disobedience”, Americans today can decide on their own whether they want to join the army or not. Today, Thoreau’s work is still used including in films such as “The Great Debaters”.
“Civil Disobedience” focused on how unjust the government is. He mentions that the government not only use their power to create laws in their benefit, they abuse their powers to bend the laws for themselves when they are responsible for an unjust act. An example he uses is Slavery during the 19th century. Even though the government says that men are equal, the government is composed of men who use other men to provide for their own advantage (178). I agree with how unfair the government was for allowing slavery. It sounds like the government was being a hypocrite for not being a body of government true to their own words. They bend the rules for their own sake which makes it unfair to those who are equally the same as those who apart of the government. One of my favorite quotes from this piece of writing is as follows: “That government is best which governs not at all”. I agree with this quote because the government should have considered laws that are in favor of everyone instead of for themselves. Minorities, or those who favor whats not in the opinion of the “grand eye” should have a voice in the issues that were being faced, and that included those were held captive during slavery.
