Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” was a very interesting, but somewhat confusing speech. Thoreau’s writings attracted national, as well as global attention. The recognition he received, particularly the influence his work had on Mohandas Gandhi during India’s fight for independence from Great Britain, was remarkable. In this particular speech, Thoreau argued strongly against following and allowing government actions that the people considered to be unjustifiable. He believed that openly disobeying state and national laws could truly make an impact on other people, as well as the government. After reading “Civil Disobedience,” I was somewhat impressed with Thoreau’s own actions of civil disobedience; refusing to pay a national poll tax, was a particularly courageous and defiant action against the United States government. Thoreau believed that people who did not agree with any law or government action, had an obligation to openly defy that certain principle, and not damage their own personal belief system by participating or following in something that they did not believe or agree with. Even after being thrown in jail for a night, Thoreau continued to encourage civil disobedience. The people could make an impact, without waging a civil war. In many ways, especially after learning of the success that Mohandas Gandhi had in using civil disobedience to gain freedom from Great Britain, I find many of Henry David Thoreau’s ideas very enlightening and significant to our world today. In the United States, we are lucky to have the freedom to fight and rally for what we believe in, while many other countries in our world are not so lucky.