By: Nick Becton, Ivy Cox, and Riley Carney

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCETO REFUSE TO PAY TAX, FINES OR COMPLY WITH CERTAIN LAWS AS A PEACEFUL FORM OF POLITICAL PROTEST

[4] “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much

as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.”

Thoreau is saying to follow what your conscience says is right even if you are in the minority. If men had taken the time to sit down and think about what they were doing, they would realize it was wrong because of their conscience.

WRONGS

[22] “If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible.”

Thoreau thought that not paying taxes to the government was a good way to protest peacefully. It established passive resistance that was later used by Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.

TAXES

[26] “I have paid no poll tax for six years. I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, two or three feet thick, the door of wood and iron, a foot thick, and the iron grating which strained the light, I could not help

being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated my as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up.”

Thoreau disobeyed the law by not paying his poll tax for the past six years. He was protesting the government in the war one of the times.

POLL TAX

He was an abolitionist in the 1850’s In 1854 he burned a copy of the United States

constitution at an abolitionist rally He thought it was an evil and unjust document Although it wasn’t peaceful resistance William Lloyd supported his

conscience even though it wasn’t lawful Thoreau believed in supporting your conscience too because he

also participated in John Brown raid

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON

Started in 1833 by William Lloyd Garrison Main purpose was for immediate emancipation of

slaves Held lectures, publications, and boycotted all

slave produced products like cotton Thoreau also boycotted the poll tax because he didn’t support

were the money was going to

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY

Harriet escaped in 1849 with the help of the Underground Railroad

Harriet escaped which was illegal and everyone housing the slaves were performing illegal acts

Both parties in the Underground Railroad were breaking the law for something they believed in

Henry David Thoreau was a firm believer in breaking the law for something you support

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Civil Disobedience can be seen in the civil rights movement through Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches like “I Have A Dream” and “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speeches. MLK chose to act passively through speeches to brake the chains of oppression on their race. Just as Henry David Thoreau acted passively when he didn’t pay his poll tax. Without Thoreau, The civil rights movement could have ended in a violent, bloody war, which would never be resolved.

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

A second place where you can see Civil Disobedience in the Civil Rights Movement is in the Greensboro (1942) “Sit-In”. A sit-in is when a African American would go to a “All-White” restaurant and just sit there. This often led to name calling, yelling, beating, and other forms of abuse. However, these young and brave citizens would not act back, just sit there, passively. This would be them showing passive argumentation, just as in the document.

SIT-INS

A third and final example is Rosa Parks. She got on a bus in Montgomery, AL and sat in the front of it. Many people began to tell her that she was in the white section and she had to go to the back of the bus. However, she saw no need in her moving seats, and there really wasn’t. So, instead of arguing back, she just sat in her seat, acting passive aggressively. When the bus stopped she was arrested and spent a night in jail, oddly similar to Thoreau who spent a night in jail for refusal to pay poll tax.

ROSA PARKS

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Rosa Parks: http://

gumbumper.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/rosa_parks.jpg

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MLK Jr.: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=MLK&view=detail&i

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