What is the purpose of Henry David Thoreaus “Civil Disobedience?
Thoreau looked up to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas in “Self-Reliance.” He spent a night in jail for refusing to pay poll tax which was supposed to finance the government. He knew that when he submits to paying the tax, he would be affirming his place as an advocate of slavery and to finance the Mexican War [1846-1848]. “Like many Americans at the time, Thoreau viewed the Mexican War as a conflict in which a stronger country sought to overpower a weaker one simply to expand its own borders. Inspired by his experience in jail, Thoreau in 1847 published “Civil Disobedience.” In his essay, he affirms individual conscience and advocated nonviolent acts of political resistance to protest government policy.” –The Language of Literature pg 369 [Build Background], the McDougal Littell one… the bibliographies are all messed up sorry… What details are you looking for? Like what drove him to write the essay?
