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Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on the concept of civil disobedience.
Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on the concept of civil disobedience. Thoreau’s argument was that since citizens pay tax to help the government carry out its business when the government is involved in actions that don’t measure up to the moral standards, paying such taxes is as good as supporting the immoral acts. If the government is involved in the mistreatment of human beings, paying the tax to the government is supporting these acts. In Thoreau’s case, two issues were at hand. First, the issue of slavery, which at his time was still legal and supported by the government of the USA at the time. Thoreau’s conscience was that slavery is immoral, as well as unconstitutional. The United States of America’s constitution establishes that all humans are made equal. Since slavery had different standards for black people, and black people did not have rights like other people, especially white people, this was not only unconstitutional but also immoral. In this regard, Thoreau felt that paying tax to a government that allows slavery to be carried out was supporting this immoral action.
The other dimension of Thoreau’s civil disobedience was the issue of acquiescence. This argues that refusing to act against the wrong actions of another person, government, or any entity, is as good as giving permission or giving a green light into the rightfulness of the actions. In other words, just standing by and watching other people do the wrong things is as good as joining them in the wrong-doing.
Thoreau’s conclusion was that all citizens whether as a group or as an individual had a moral obligation and responsibility to resist against negative actions of the government. He argued that the citizens would not sit back and watch while the government conducts business that is against the natural laws of morality.
Thoreau’s argument, .and his civil disobedience by refusing to pay taxes to the government, inspired a lot of people, both in the United States of America and away.