Civil Disobedience: Past &
Present
Andrew Belleville
Yesica Lopez
Savanah Huizar
Eddie Ramirez
Outline
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What is civil disobedience?
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What causes it?
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Authors/Philosophers That
Have Promulgated This Idea
Through History.
What role has civil
disobedience played in
American history?
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Civil Disobedience and Ancient
Greece

Government Reactions to Civil
Disobedience

Social and Government
Changes Due to Civil
Disobedience
Civil Disobedience

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Form of protest in which protestors intentionally violate a
law.
An act of deliberately disobeying a law on the grounds of
morals or political principles.
What Causes Civil Disobedience?

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Caused when one feels that a law is going against his or
her morals.
Also, it can occur when one disagrees with the political
principles that have been set.
Authors/Philosophers That Have
Promulgated This Idea Through History

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Henry David Thoreau's “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” implies that
one’s conscience is more important than the law, and one must follow his or
her conscience.
 “Any fool can make a rule,
and any fool will mind it.” (Thoreau).
Jeremy Bentham believed that if the law was truly unjust that the citizen had
not just the right to resist government but also the duty.
 “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign
masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we
ought to do as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand,
the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and
effects, are fastened to their throne.” (Bentham, 1780).
Roles That Civil Disobedience Played in U.S.
History

Civil disobedience and American history has played
an important role in society today…
Rosa Parks refusing to sit in back of the bus changed
the law of colored skin not having to sit on the back of
the bus.
 Also, the U.S. Supreme Court had declared school
segregation unconstitutional.

Civil Disobedience and Ancient Greece


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The peasants declared war
against Socialism and the
Socialist Revolution in Europe.
This revolution was when they
decided to break free from their
government.
They called it “Trotskyism”.
Most of the Greek workers
have bitter memories of the
way they were used as a tool.
Government Reactions to Civil
Disobedience

The Civil Rights
Movement: The
government reacted to the
illegal protesting and sitins by ruling that
consideration of race in
creating congressional
districts is unconstitutional.
Ways the Government has Changed by Civil
Disobedience

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In 1783 Massachusetts outlawed slavery within its borders.
No one has to sit on the back of the bus anymore.
In 1945 U.S. Supreme Court declared school segregation
unconstitutional.
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act declaring
discrimination based on race.
Works Cited
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Jeremy Bentham, 1748-1832. http://homepagenewschool.edu/het//profiles/bentham.htm.
September 16, 2009.
Kayla Starr. The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy.
http://www.civilliberties.org/sum98role.html. September 16, 2009.
Memorable Quotes and Quotations from Henry David Thoreau. http://www.memorablequotes.com/henry+david+thoreau,a493.html. September 16, 2009.
The Civil Rights Movement. http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/1997/mlk/links.html. 1997.
September 16, 2009.
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_363/1234174816CayIp7.jpg. September 16, 2009.
http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/hbomb/images/protest.jpg. September 16, 2009.
http://www.nlgmass.org/images/copsonhorses.jpg. September 16, 2009
http://xoxo123.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/civil_rights_movement.jpeg
Ted Grant. British Labour Betrayed Greek Workers.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1945/02/labour-betrayed-greek-workers.htm. 1945.
September 17, 2009.