...Cannon 30 April 2013 Civil Disobedience When should civil disobedience be justified? Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey government laws, in an effort to bring upon a change in governmental policy or legislation. Civil disobedience is not an effort to dissolve the American government, because without government our society would result in chaos. Sometimes, when there is an unjust law and the government won't take the initiative to fix it, the public must act as civil disobedient to bring awareness and fix the unjust law. There have been times when citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government because of an issue that is unjust. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau made such actions to prove their point. Civil disobedience is justified when its goal is to obtain equal rights and service for everyone, without causing physical damage to people and their property, and without breaking the just laws that are already enforced. It should only be practiced when the government fails to uphold justice and fix laws that don't allow everyone the equal rights already given to some. In his essay, "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau wrote in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An...
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...When it comes to the pretention of Civil Disobedience and what can be seen as acts of indirect and direct civil disobedience. H.A. Bedau and Henry David Thoreau come to mind because of how they both saw things in different light but at a meaningful level they both thought the same about the government even through they expressed there ideals in completely different ways. Their ideas cross on many different paths as to which even Bedau talks about Thoreau in his essay in regards to being “responsible” for your actions. The main premise of Bedau’s argument in his essay of “civil disobedience and personal responsibility for justice” is to compare the idea of what is civil disobedience and who is responsible for the actions. Bedau spends a great...
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...considered a great leader because he had strong goals: He wanted to change America. Yes, it’s true all presidents want to change the world, but Kennedy was different because he thought very differently and had unique goals that seemed almost impossible. His two main goals that he tried to achieve, that made this assassination unjust was: He supported the Civil Rights Movement and wanted equal rights for everyone, he also wished that there would be peace everywhere and wanted America to spread peace. But, he did receive hate from others because of some of the bad decisions he made. John F. Kennedy had a vivid image for America being equal. “JFK represented a symbol of hope for the underserved and grossly overlooked citizens.” (Gomez 1). When he became the president,...
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...of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience Abstract: Civil disobedience is the valuable spiritual wealth of American spirits. From Henry David Thoreau to Martin Luther King, civil disobedience theory also had developed into a new stage. American people began to commonly accept and practice the civil disobedience theory, which pushed American Civil Rights Movement forward. This essay focuses on the origination of the civil disobedience and briefly introduces its development. Key Words: Civil disobedience Conscience Government 1、 Thoreau’s Imprisonment The Mexican-American war, which started from 1846, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico over the territorial dispute of Texas. Most abolitionists and transcendentalists were against this war, because they thought that this war was an act of a bullying government anxious to grab land from a weaker nation. Some even thought this war was a conspiracy of the southern slaveholders. Then Texas admitted slavery, while Mexico forbade slavery. They regarded this war as the expansion of slavery, which could strengthen the influence of the south in federation. Therefore the abolitionists and transcendentalists did their best to resist this war. Among them, Henry David Thoreau was a famous representative. Thoreau did not agree this aggressive war. To resist, he refused to pay the Massachusetts poll tax, which was a “per head” tax imposed on all citizens to help support the Mexican War. His refusal...
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...should not be lurking in the shadows and keeping an opinion bottled up to never be heard. If an idea or belief gets shot down, a citizen can try again to make their idea noticed. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses civil disobedience in “ Letter from Birmingham Jail,” as “ Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (173). Although civil disobedience can alter life drastically, it does not mean to continue on the path of insanity, but to stand up for what you believe is just. While standing up for justice is admirable, however, it is not always easy. In Iran, the government can take disciplinary action towards its citizens striking fear and panic into their souls. In the book The Complete Persepolis written by Marjane Satrapi, in which she discusses a hectic life in Iran. In chapter fourteen “The Wine,” Satrapi discusses how the government takes disciplinary action towards the citizens who chose to rebel by having a party. The citizens found at the party are thrown in jail or are physically abused (103-110). Although the government took action against its people, the citizens continued to sneak around partying and revolting against the government. The citizens in Iran did not want to be controlled by the government because the laws enforced were...
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...Julia Starr Renner 1 November 2015 Miriam Dominguez Defining the basis of human rights for American society, The Declaration of Independence stated “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Throughout the duration of gaining independence, Americans struggled against the suffocating reign of Great Britain. Colonists saw themselves as equals to those in England and did not believe that their rights should be neglected. Similar to the British-Americans during the Revolutionary War, the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement sought equal rights and freedom. Prominent civil rights leaders brought new ideas to the world, dreaming up ways to eliminate an archaic mentality. Ultimately, without the reinforcement of...
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...disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” Civil disobedience can be valuable and promote social progress when used for valid reasons. However, when using disobedience for invalid reasons, it promotes wrongdoings instead of social progress. Humans must differentiate between progress and ignorance to positively impact a free society. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he argued that peaceful debates and arguments would put an end to segregation. King was a devout Christian member of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and a...
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...Civil Disobedience is a tradition carried on by those willing to accept the consequences. Muhammad Ali is one example, he firmly stood up and opposed joining the military draft. That soon caused him to be stripped of his boxing title and was sentenced to five years in prison, but was appealed and avoided his prison sentence. Another example is Henry David Thoreau, who spent a night in jail for not paying his taxes, in protest of the Mexican American War. The influence of Henry Thoreau's writing has been read by civil rights leaders in the United States and around the world over the years. He believes when the government is doing wrong that the people should refuse to follow the law, like he did due to the practice of slavery in some territories. And the only purpose of the government was to ensure individual freedom and not misuse...
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...The Tragic Death at Ford’s Theater: Just or Unjust? Imagine enjoying a play on a regular evening with your family. Next thing you know, the person next to you is dead and chaos breaks out. Abraham Lincolin was assassinated mainly because of his actions and beliefs. Lincoln was well known as a fighter against slavery. He became the 16th president of the United States in 1860. He was also a military leader during the civil war and issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves in the Confederate States (History.com). Abraham Lincoln's’ assassination was unjustified because he was an honest, role model to many,equal manbelieved in equality, and a was a revolutionary leader; however others many believed that thought he was a rebel too rebellious....
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...Civil disobedience is an active refusal to obey certain laws, commands, and demands of a government in a nonviolent way, in hopes to influence the government to change the rules and regulations they had put in place for a single group of people. Henry David Thoreau wrote a book titled "Civil Disobedience"; he wrote this book to protest slavery in the United States and the Mexican-American War. (Why Did Thoreau) He rebelled by not paying taxes because when he paid taxes the funds were going to both events he did not support at all. He stayed true to his morals so much so he was even put in jail for a night. The acts of Thoreau showed the Americans that if nobody spoke up, they could be stuck in the same unjust that they were used to living...
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...THE TWO TREATISES OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT The introduction of the work was written latter and until this century gave people the impression that the book was written in 1688 to justify the Glorious Revolution. We now know that the Two Treatises of Civil Government were written during the Exclusion crisis and were probably intended to justify the general armed rising which the Country Party leaders were planning. It was a truly revolutionary work. Supposing that the Two Treatises may have been intended to explain and defend the revolutionary plot against Charles II and his brother, how does it do this? What do reflections on the state of nature and the state of war have to do with distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate civil government? The First Treatise of Civil Government is a polemical work aimed at refuting the patriarchal version of the Divine Right of Kings doctrine put forth by Sir Robert Filmer. :Locke singles out Filmer's contention that men are not "naturally fre e" as the key issue, for that is the "ground" or premise on which Filmer erects his argument for the claim that all "legitimate" government is "absolute monarchy." -- kings being descended from the first man Adam. Early in the First Treatise Lo cke denies that either scripture or reason supports Filmer's premise or arguments. In what follows, Locke minutely examines key Biblical passages - so Locke's emphasis in the First Treatise is on refuting Filmer's scriptural claims for the divin e right...
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...Files - 2 – The LD File Civil Disobedience Index Topic Overview 3-7 Definitions 8-10 Affirmative Cases 11-19 Negative Cases 20-25 Affirmative Extensions 26-34 Civil disobedience worked to free India. 26 Civil disobedience overthrew the communists in Poland. 26 The tradition of civil disobedience in America goes all the way back to the founders. 26 Civil disobedience can serve to prevent situations from escalating into violence. 27 Civil Disobedience has been used to promote peace. 27 Civil disobedience was used to promote racial equality. 27 Civil disobedience is used to try to prevent the destruction of the environment. 27 Civil disobedience is effective at changing the law. 28 Legal channels can take too long. 28 Consent to obey just laws does not imply consent to obey unjust ones. 28 Distinguishing between just and unjust laws to disobey can be universalized. 28 Civil disobedience can be stabilizing to a community by spreading a shared sense of justice. 29 Sometimes it is only the unjustified response to civil disobedience that has harmful consequence. 29 Civil disobedience is traditionally non-violent. 29 Civil disobedience is a form of exercising free speech- which is essential in a democracy. 30 Civil disobedience has been used to fight slave laws 30 Civil disobedience played a role in ending the Vietnam war. 30 Civil disobedience shouldn’t be...
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...Batman’s Civil Disobedience in Gotham city Hugo A. Sanchez English 102 10/24/14 Abstract In this paper, I argue that the film and comic Batman the Dark Knight Returns, can be compared to Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience in the way that Batman disobeys the law by returning back to Gotham city and fighting crime. I also show that Batman displays civil disobedience when he does his best to protect Gotham city and fight the government, promising to never give up. I show that, much like Thoreau, Batman is solitary and engages in his own war by himself against the police department, criminals, and army. Just as Thoreau willingly goes to jail for his beliefs about the Mexican War, Batman fights for what he believes to be right, not only for him, but for the people of Gotham city. Batman’s Civil Disobedience in Gotham City When corruption arises, there is always a person who questions the injustice. Acts of civil disobedience are shown in modern society today, whether in society or through the media. Many individuals who are portrayed as heroes are people who break the law and fight for the power and authority that the citizens have lost due to their rights being taken away. A person must be able to accept the outcomes and consequences of their own actions when they disobey. Being civilly disobedient is not only about breaking a law. The actions of these individuals spread ideas. In the end, the outcome of the struggle may involve a change in a law like the way Cesar...
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...Jail”. Allusion is a rhetorical strategy that refers to something real or fictional, to someone, some event, etc. The authors use allusion in the text to advance their purpose. In the speech “The Gettysburg Address”, Abraham Lincoln alludes to Revolutionary War in the first few words “Four score and seven years ago”. Alluding to our Founding Fathers during the Revolutionary...
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...Civil Disobedience Essay Thoreau expresses the Transcendentalist belief that all people must live as individuals, not as mindless parts of a society that may or may not be just. He claims that citizens have the power to create a better government, but they are afraid to take a stand and make changes without the support of the majority. An example of this is Gandhi’s Salt March against the British, who put a tax on their staple ingredient, salt. This is how Gandhi’s vigorous salt march began. Gandhi’s Salt March relates to Thoreau's idea in “Civil Disobedience,” because it shows how Gandhi refused to obey the British law and attempted to make his opinion known. Gandhi’s Salt March emphasizes Thoreau’s idea on how important it is for individuals to come together as a society and voice their opinions to the government on what they believe is right. The Salt March was a reaction to the British tax on salt. Mahatma Gandhi, the British, and some protesters were involved. The British had previously colonized India and therefore were trying to regulate their economy. The Salt March took place in India on March 12, 1930, due to the unreasonable tax on salt, which Gandhi didn’t find fair. He then started a...
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