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From Rags to Riches in American Literature
The American Literary Classics
From "Resistance to Civil Government" or "Civil Disobedience" CLICK HERE if you want to view/print word document This is a paraphrase of the main ideas of Thoreau's essay…with a fragment of each respective paragraph, written in italics, to guide you as you reference the original essay in the literature book. "I heartily accept the motto--…." Thoreau agrees with Thomas Jefferson who said, "That government is best which governs least." He's saying that the best kind of government stays out of people's private lives as much as possible. At its best, government is only good for getting necessary things accomplished, like building roads and schools; however, usually it doesn't even do those things right. At that time, people had complaints about the government paying to have an army standing ready to fight. Thoreau says you could make the same, valid arguments against having a standing government. He thinks that even though the people have chosen who will be in the government, it could still abuse their trust before they could do anything about it. He mentions that only a few government officials are in favor of America entering the Mexican war, but since they are in power, they get to have their way. If the people had been given a chance to vote individually on whether to enter the war or not, they would have chosen not to. " Even though we don't think it's a very big deal to criticize our government today, back then, it was! The people didn't have our present day media coverage to tell them all about their politicians' latest scandals, crimes, etc. There was no obvious reason for them to distrust their government since they had elected its members. Thoreau's ideas were pretty shocking to people back then…how dare he think American government might be flawed!
This American government is fairly new. It has set out to build a tradition for our children to honor, but every day, it loses some of its goodness. Government, as a whole body, isn't even as strong as one single person, who, with the right influence and power, can shape government policy according to what he wants. But the people have to have some kind of complicated machine to run the country to make themselves happy. Government, itself, has never made any kind of progress for the country. It hasn't explored the west; it hasn't taught children to read and write. Individual Americans have done those things. In fact, Americans could do more if government would get out of their way. For example, all the rules and regulations on trade and marketing almost ruin a lot of business for Americans. If the politicians who make all the silly rules were put on trial for the trouble they cause, they'd be punished just like the people who put objects on railroad tracks trying to de-rail trains. But the politicians THINK they mean well by what they're doing. "But, to speak practically…." Thoreau is in favor of government, but he wants a BETTER government than he sees. He wants people to speak up about what they expect in their politicians. "After all, the practical reason why,…." Power is always in the hands of the majority group. The only reason for that is because they are stronger… being the majority….there are more of them. He thinks every person should first follow h/her own conscience, not h/her legislator/politician. People shouldn't respect the law as much as they respect what is RIGHT. He says his only duty is to do what he thinks is RIGHT. "It is not a man's duty…." It is not your job to fix other people's problems. It is not your job to correct the wrongs of the world. Walk away from them, but be sure that when you go for what you want in life, you don't hurt or take advantage of someone else in the process. He hears his neighbors say they'd gladly help catch run-away slaves, or they'd gladly fight the Mexicans in the war. Then, rather than go themselves, they pay for someone to go in their place when they pay their poll taxes to support soldiers in the war and to pay for run-away slave catchers. He thinks they're being hypocrites. He sees his neighbors support men who don't want to fight a war in which they don't believe, but these same neighbors still send their tax money to help the war effort. His neighbors may claim to be abolitionists, but their tax money goes to bounty hunters looking for run-away slaves. It's as if the government knows it's doing something wrong to uphold slavery and to enter the war without the consent of the people, but it's still going to take people's money to help pay for it. In the end, we find ourselves paying for and supporting something mean and hateful. When you continue to sin, it eventually becomes an acceptable thing to you, and after enough time, it becomes part of you and almost necessary for your existence. When the government continues to do things against conscience/what is right, it will eventually get used to doing immoral things, and it will fall if it tries to stop and correct itself. "I meet this American government,…." He meets with a government representative once a year…the tax collector. He thinks the best way to show his feelings for his government, then, is to refuse to pay his taxes. Since he'll be face to face with an agent of the government, that agent will then have to think about what he's asking of people…maybe he'll reconsider what he's doing…maybe the government, as a whole, will reconsider what it's doing if enough single men refuse to pay their taxes…refuse to blindly follow along. Thoreau believes that if ONE honest man would go to jail rather than pay taxes to support something evil like slavery, then slavery would eventually be abolished. He says, "…it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: What is once well done is done forever." A single righteous person or a small group of righteous people can set a whole society on the right track. "I have paid no poll tax for six years." Thoreau hadn't paid his taxes for six years, and he was thrown into jail once for it. He says that even though the walls and doors and bars of the jail were very thick and strong, they had not really imprisoned him because he was much more than just a physical body. He even felt that his neighbors were more imprisoned than he was because they were chained to the government, and he wasn't. His jailers kept saying and doing stupid things because they didn't know what to make of Thoreau being there. They made a big deal about locking his jail cell door, as if they were locking up his mind, too. His thoughts just floated right out after them because you can't chain a person's mind. Since the government couldn't put his mind in jail, they had decided to punish his body by locking it up, just like some bullies will pick on someone's dog to bring pain to its master. He decided the government was just stupid and paranoid, like an old woman with silver spoons who didn't know whom to trust or distrust. He felt sorry for his government. "The night in prison was novel and interesting…." He talks about the other inmates visiting until bedtime. His "roommate" was very nice, and his "apartment," as he called his cell, was probably nicer and cleaner than any other apartment in his town. His roommate was in jail for burning down a barn, but he said he was innocent. Thoreau assumes the man went to bed drunk, smoking a pipe, and the barn burned down. The man seems very content to be in jail. He's well cared for, and he pays nothing for room and board. "He occupied one window…." Thoreau spent some time looking out his window at the town that night. He read the various essays and poems written and left there by former prisoners. He heard stories of attempted escapes. He realized there was a history in that jail that no one ever heard outside on the streets. "I pumped my fellow prisoner as…." He tried to get as much information out of his roommate as he could, but the man finally went to sleep. "It was like traveling into a far country,…." As he lay in bed with the windows open, Thoreau heard things in his town he'd never taken the time to hear before. He heard the town clock strike; he heard people talking; he imagined what life was like there years before…what his neighbors' ancestors were like. He listened, and he imagined, and he began to understand his fellow man like never before. "In the morning, our breakfasts were put…." The next morning, he was fed. He was going to send his uneaten food back, but his roommate grabbed it and told him to save it for later. Soon, his roommate left to work in the fields. "When I came out of prison--…." He got out of prison because someone "interfered" and paid his tax. It was probably his aunt, and his use of the word "interfered" implies he may have wished to stay in jail to prove his point. He saw his town in a whole new light. He realized that his neighbors were not true and trustworthy friends, as he had thought them to be before. He felt they were scared of risking anything personal to prove a point, as he had done. He decided that they only wanted to walk a straight and useless path (from time to time) to save their souls. They were not noble people in how they treated criminals because they hurt the criminals just like the criminals had hurt them. He admits that many citizens probably aren't even aware of how ashamed they should be of themselves. "It was formerly the custom in our village…." When people got out of jail, their neighbors would look at them through crossed fingers, sort of like the bars of a jail cell. They didn't address Thoreau like that, but they stared at him and at one another as if they couldn't believe what they had heard about him. Before he was arrested, he'd just dropped off a shoe at the repair shop. When he got out, he picked up his shoe and joined a group of friends who'd been waiting on him to go pick huckleberries in the hills. Two miles later, he was on a high hill, and the government was nowhere to be seen. "This is the whole history…." Thoreau says that is the entire story of his night in prison. "The authority of the government,…." He says he's willing to obey those who know more than he does, and he often obeys those who know less; however, the government is not a pure, noble authority to be obeyed. To be pure and noble, it must always have the complete support of all of its people. He says the government has no right to order him to do something if he disagrees with that order. He wonders if democracy is the best way to show respect for the individual. He says there will never be a truly free country until that country's government admits that it gets all its power and authority from the people and not from itself and starts treating its people with the respect they deserve. He fantasizes about a government that would allow people to break off and live on their own, not paying taxes, but not using the government's services either…a government that would encourage its people to be good neighbors to each other…that would allow its people to follow their own consciences. This would be the perfect government to Thoreau…but it was nowhere to be seen.
Answer the following questions. They are designed to guide you through Thoreau's essay and to force you to pay close attention to his message. Answer in your own words without copying from Thoreau or the paraphrase. 1. Besides building roads and schools, what 2 other "expedient" (a convenience; a means to an end) things is the government good for doing? b. 2. How does Thoreau feel about a standing army? 3. Who chooses the government? 4. So, whose fault is it if we have a standing army and don't like it? 5. At the end of paragraph 1, what does Thoreau say can happen even if people want to use the government correctly?
7. Does Thoreau believe government is necessary? Why or why not, in your own words? 8. According to Thoreau, what has and has not made the advancements and furthered the progress in America? 9. According to paragraph 2, how do politicians cause problems for Americans?
12. Who has the power in this country and why?
14. What danger does Thoreau see in people (and the government) ignoring the fact that they've done something immoral/wrong? 15. In paragraph 6, why does Thoreau think it's important to physically tell the tax collector, face to face, why he's refusing to pay his taxes? 16. If it's not a person's job to go around taking care of other people's problems, then how can a small group of moral, righteous people set a whole society on the "right track?"
18. What is ironic, to Thoreau, about the general atmosphere of the jail?
20. Once out of jail, how does Thoreau feel about his neighbors? 21. How would Thoreau feel about public executions? 22. What does Thoreau do when he gets out of jail?
27. What other characters from literature and/or from history would agree with Thoreau's ideas? (name 3) Socratic Seminars/Prompts
Self-Reliance Independence or Interdependence Are we really our brother’s keeper? Intellect and/or Intuition Romanticism or Rationalism Love it or leave it! Logical Fallacies: “C’mon….EVERYONE knows that all __________are _______________!” What are some examples of logical fallacies surrounding the topic of ____________________? Emerson preached it; Thoreau lived it. “The American Scholar” speech delivered by Emerson to Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa students, which inspired Thoreau To what extent could a Utopian society exist in the 19th century? The 20th century? The 21st century? Cite examples in contemporary society/business/politics when someone’s actions have exemplified Malcolm X’s mantra: “…by whatever means necessary!” Do the same thing for King’s insistence on using peaceful means to protest what he thought were “unjust” laws To what extent should a person follow the laws of their “god” vs. the laws of society?
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