Civil Disobedience in an Unjust America

Ahmed Syed Professor Ravy Eng 112-536 04/27/2010 courtly noncompliance in an Unjust the States h offshootonize to the infamous hear by Henry David Thoreau, polished noncompliance is the conscious and intentional disobeying of a law to advance a honourable principle or vary establishment policy. Throughout the essay, Thoreau urges the lead for individuals to pull their personal and loving consciousness before their anyegiance to their governance and its range of mountains of policies. Thoreau believed that if a government is unsportsmanlike, citizens should simply refuse to follow the law and at long last begin to distance themselves from their government in a variety of ways.Although published 105 years one of the most turbulent and crucial time in American history, the leaders of the well-bred Rights Movement saw the congruence between their plight and the teachings in Civil Disobedience. The protests led by legendary activist Martin Luther power and the water shed until nowt of Rosa Parks infamous tutor ride were just two instances in which well-bred disobedience came to fruition in modern day America. The following restate by Thoreau laid the groundwork for the basis of the actions of many cultured rights activists, world power and Parks included, I return that we should be men commencement, and subjects afterwardThe altogether obligation which I move over is the right to do what I think right. (Civil Disobedience 475). The aforesaid(prenominal) quote reveals Thoreaus feel that it was a citizens obligation to withdraw from participating in an unjust and flagitious government and gives support to future opposition to the American Government as shaft during the 1950s and 1960s. Thoreau asks on several looses throughout his essay which include disassociation and reform, however one overarching and undeniable argument that is present throughout his essay is that the American government is an unjust government that must be c orrected.This belief was also held by accomplished rights activists. Through this research paper, the foundation of Thoreaus ideas and their penetration into modern American history depart be explored. The cordial context surrounding Thoreau and his work includes two prevalent issues slavery and The Mexican-American War. During the 1840s, when Civil Disobedience was published, the North and South were at odds over the issue of slavery. During the same time, many Americans also believed it was their manifest destiny to claim part of Mexico as the United States.Based on these two issues, Thoreau argues that the United States is an evil and unjust government. Thoreau and Paul Powers Civil Disobedience as working(a) Opposition both argue that if the government were non evil in its objectives and agenda hence the idea and practice of cultivated disobedience would not have been needed nor arrive atd. According to Powers, due the established evil of our government, there are both moral and ideological grounds for justifying civil disobedience, (Powers 37). This is because civil disobedience is a reaction to unjust government.Although many argue against civil disobedience by saying unjust laws made by a elective legislature can be changed by a democratic legislature and that the existence of lawful channels of change make civil disobedience unnecessary, Thoreau and Powers would argue that the constitution and said laws are the problem, not the solution. According to Thoreau, governments are often abused and perverted (Civil Disobedience 249) so that they no longer reflect the needs and opinions of the common people.The American government showcased the aforementioned abuse and perversion during Thoreaus time in their partaking in the Mexican-American War. The main(prenominal) objective of the war was the take land from Mexico in order to create a larger and more powerful America. According to Thoreau, the American government achieved these objectives throu gh an unfair armed conflict that was reminiscent of the long arm of European monarchies Thoreau also argued that the American government was unjust in its fare support of slavery.Thoreau believed that citizens of the United States must stop slavery and the war with Mexico, even if it costs them their existence as a people. In order to in truth make his arguments effective, Thoreau used ethos and pathos to persuade the people of his era. His use of ethos is spare throughout the entire essay. Thoreau establishes that he is a credible source as he himself has practiced civil disobedience and has been imprisoned for doing so. Thoreau says, I have paid no poll-tax for six years.I was put into jail once on this account, for one night and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stoneI cold not help being struck with the foolishness of that administration (Civil Disobedience 249). In the aforementioned quote, not only does he framing his own credibility as a sort of martyr for his c ause, hardly he discredits the opposition, the government. Thoreau engages the audience by way of pathos as he speaks on such an emotional level about pressing issues that or so every American had an opinion on, the war and slavery (Civil Disobedience 243. Thoreaus use of ethos and pathos was so successful and convincing that that it resonated with Americans over deoxycytidine monophosphate years later. Thoreaus teachings helped to form and energize the American civil rights movement. His ideas and teachings were utilise to sit-ins at lunch paying backs, the freedom ride to Mississippi, peaceful protests in Georgia, and the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. All of these defining moments were the outcome of Thoreaus insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice (Thoreau 244).Thoreau also uses sensory imagery to convince and chain of mountains his audience in the following quote If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a ro pe, or a sore, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evilLet your life be a counter friction to stop the machine (Civil Disobedience 248). This quote applies Thoreaus reasonably abstract theories and ideas about evil and injustice to tangible and common objects, allowing all members of his audience to understand the major arguments of his essay.The use of the concrete words machine, spring, pulley, rope, and crank allow Thoreaus audience to take what he is saying and pass on it to common processes and mages that they understand because they are parts of their common and everyday lives. columnist Bob Herbert, of the New York Times, recently wrote an article about Martin Luther female monarchs opposition to the Vietnam War, which can be compared with Thoreaus thoughts on the Mexican-American War. Herbert cited queen as saying the United States Government, in regards to their war efforts was, Corrupt, inept, and without popular support, (Herbert 2010).Herbert went on to make headway to say, Dr. mogul spoke about the damage the Vietnam War was doing to Americas war on poverty, and the way it was undermining other important domestic initiatives. What he wanted from the U. S. was not warfare overseas but a renew commitment to economic and social justice at headquarters. As he put it A nation that continues year after year to glide by more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death, (Herbert 2010). Not only did King outfit with Thoreau on the social, piritual, and moral wrongs of war, but he also practiced civil disobedience and was sent to jail just as Thoreau was. In April of 1963, King was imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama for his participation and leadership of the Birmingham campaign, a be after non-violent protest conducted by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and Kings southern Christian Leadership Conference against racial se gregation (King). While imprisoned, King wrote a Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which is equivalent to Thoreaus Civil Disobedience in that he demonstrated that he was in Birmingham in the first place because injustice resided there.Within the letter he also stated the resole reason for his imprisonment was for protesting those injustices. Letter from a Birmingham Jail was the root of Kings views on civil disobedience. As the primary leader the Civil Rights Movement, King was known for his views on the value of civil disobedience as a way to achieve political attention and change, mistakable to Thoreau. Specifically, King studied and used methods of Thoreaus civil disobedience to combat and change segregation laws.Kings thoughts on civil disobedience raised similar theoretical questions to Thoreaus about the relationship between an individual, their government, and ones moral and political duties in upholding their personal social contract with the US government (Melendez). Within the letter, King utilizes the same ethos and pathos that Thoreau used hundred years earlier. King builds his credibility and rapport by explaining himself as a reliable, competent, activist who has the utmost respect for his audiences ideas and values. This can be seen as he writes, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the one-eighth century B. C. left their villages and carried their thus saith the Lord far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of saviour Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to aim the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid (Letter from a Birmingham Jail 207). In conclusion, while Thoreau and his disciple Martin Luther King Jr. ncourage the need for individuals to correctly and justly prioritize their individual conscious and the laws of their government, they essentially argue that the reason for the institution of civil disobedience is because the American government is and will always be an unjust government. Thoreau believes this is true not only because of their affaire in the Mexican-American War and their firm support of slavery, but because the American governments actions are derived from the needs, opinions, and desires of a small group of citizens who fail to run the majority.