Civil Disobedience
Group 3
Jen Crilly
Alexes Morris
Julia McNamee
Katarina Remolde
• Not our job to remove
unjust laws as citizens
– That is the government’s
duty
• It IS our job, at least, to
not support such unfair
laws though
• As Henry David Thoreau
says: “wash his hands of
it”
– Have nothing to do with the
laws
“Under a government which imprisons
unjustly, the true place for a just man is also
prison.”
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Arrested for rebelling against unjust laws
Citizens are only opposing what’s not fair
Government leaders are unjust
Punished for doing what’s right
Metaphors
• Government functions
like a machine
• Rebellion acts like
friction, which causes
the machine to slow
• We must be a counter
friction and not help
the government run
with laws we
disapprove of
“If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your
neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing
you are cheated, or without saying that you are
cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay your
due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain
the full amount, and see to it that you are never
cheated again.”
• Comparing government to “neighbor” & our rights to
“dollar”
• Need to take effective, powerful steps to have the
government fix unjust laws
• Can’t sit back quietly and do nothing (acquiescence)
Conscience vs. Actions
• Thoreau’s Example:
– 1 person refusing to pay taxes is insignificant
(they will simply go to jail)
– 1000 people refusing to pay their taxes will
cause a riot and cause the government to take
action and make changes
• “Blood” is being shed from a guilty
conscience already
– Don’t be afraid of being wounded or punished
by the government for rebelling
Summary
“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them,
or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey
them until we have succeeded, or shall we
transgress them at once?”
• Acquiescence vs. Rebellion
– We can either follow the laws or disobey them until
they are changed
• Thoreau favors taking action over obedience