Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience Jeff McIntyre

Henry David Thoreau • Born in 1817 • Transcendentalist • Historical movement in time from the 1830s to the 1840s • A loose collection of eclectic ideas about literature, philosophy, religion, social reform, and the general state of American culture

Intro to Civil Disobedience • An essay written to explore the citizens reactions to ‘immoral’ acts by the government • Depended upon the person’s conscious according to Thoreau • A person had to decide what he/she thought was right • More importantly, people had to act on what they thought was right but in a civil way

a) “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?” • This is Thoreau’s major argument throughout the essay. He is saying if your conscious cannot support something passed by legislation, then don’t support it even if you know you are going to fail.

b) “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.” • Thoreau is saying that everyone has the right to correct an injustice created by the government.

c) “Paley, a common authority with many on moral questions, in his chapter on the "Duty of Submission to Civil Government," resolves all civil obligation into expediency; and he proceeds to say that "so long as the interest of the whole society requires it, that it, so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconveniencey, it is the will of God . . . that the established government be obeyed—-and no longer. This principle being admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other." Of this, he says, every man shall judge for himself. But Paley appears never to have contemplated those cases to which the rule of expediency does not apply, in which a people, as well and an individual, must do justice, cost what it may.” • i) Once again, Thoreau is saying that society has to decide and act, on what they think is right and to try and correct injustices (in their mind) caused by the government. He quotes an English political philosopher to strengthen his argument in this essay.

Works cited--Jeff • Thoreau, Henry David, Jessica Gordon , and Ann Woodlief. "Civil Disobedience." American Transcendentalism Web . Virginia Commonwealth University, n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2011. <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/civil/>. • Woodlief, Ann. "The Web of American Transcendentalism."American Transcendentalism Web . Virginia Commonwealth University, n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2011. <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/index.html>. • http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2937158381_5f991b21b2_o.jpg • http://media.photobucket.com/image/civil+disobedience+/televiking/Funstuff/funny-pictures-civil-disobedience-c.jpg

Civil Disobedience in Abolition Hannah Hooper

Refusal of Poll Tax Thoreau demonstrated his own principal of civilly disobeying the law: • He was opposed to slavery, which the gov’t continued to allow. • In a symbolic protest, Thoreau refused to pay the poll tax for several years which resulted in his (1 night) imprisonment.

This principal began to motivate others to take actions against slavery, and they too began civilly disobeying the law…

Underground Railroad a network of escape routes for slaves leading out of the country or to Northern slave-free states. Safe havens were stationed along the way.

Conductors • “Conductors” ultimately moved slaves from station to station, guiding them by word of mouth or by physically leading them to safety. Thomas Garrett William Still Frederick Douglass Harriet Tubman

Giving Sanctuaries Not only were there people helping transport fugitive slaves on the “railroad”… • There were also hosts who offered up their own houses as refuge for runaway slaves along the escape routes. Allan Pinkerton

The Civil Disobedience • Both forms of aid directly contradicted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 which outlawed any efforts to hinder the capture of fugitive slaves. • However, this law was merely loosely enforced. • But, in 1850, when Southerners held the majority of congressional positions, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, stricter this time, demanding not just that no aid be given to runaways, but that aid must be given toward the effort to recover them. • So all people involved in the assist of the Underground Railroad were in danger by breaking these laws. • But, these brave soles took the risk because it was a cause they believed in pursuing, even if it meant defying the law.

Works Cited-Hannah Websites • "Civil Disobedience and the Underground Railroad." Welcome to Calliope... Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "The Underground Railroad @ Nationalgeographic.com." National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Planet Since 1888. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Underground Railroad." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. Pictures • "Civil Disobedience & Today: Introduction." QuestGarden.com. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Underground Railroad Map Routes Mapped Routes Escaped Slaves." Thomas' Legion: The 69th North Carolina Regiment. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Harriet Tubman Timeline." Department of Mathematics, University at Buffalo. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Young American Heroes "Frederick Douglass: Pathway From Slavery to Freedom" on WXXI-TV | WXXI." WXXI | Go Public. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Thomas Garrett." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Abolitionists | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed." | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Allan Pinkerton." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. • "Carpentersville, Illinois and Surrounding Area in the 60's and 70's." Carpentersville, Illinois - Meadowdale Shopping Center, and Surrounding Area - Growing up in the 60's and 70's. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

Civil Disobedience and Civil Rights Sam Baker

Sit-Ins • Sit- Inswere when African Americans sat in where they were not suppose to and they didn’t move to protest. • This is a non violent act of civil disobedience, because they sat in on where they thought any person should be able to sit at. They didn’t think that law was right so they decided to act in a way that is non-violent.

Rosa Parks • Rosa Parks was a women who wanted to change things and make them favor African Americans. She sat in the front ofthe bus, back then blacks were made to sit in the back. She was asked to move many times, and said no every time. She was arrested and put in jail. She was later called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement • Siting in the front of the bus was an act of Civil Disobedience by her not thinking that it was right to segregate the busses and most everything. She just wanted to show what she believed and acted on it.

Martin Luther King Jr. • MartinLuther King Jr. led many marches that weren't approved by state or government, which there for it was illegal marches. One example march was the poor peoples campaign. He got a group of people and went to protest congress until they passed a law to help the poor Americans. • The protesting was civil disobedience itself, but him leading illegal marches was what were the thing that was illegal. Him wanted to get a group of people to fight for a cause is great.

Work Cited-Sam • "Martin Luther King, Jr." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.>. • "Rosa Parks Was Arrested for Civil Disobedience." America's Story from America's Library. Library of Congress. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/modern/jb_modern_parks_3.html>. • "Sit-in." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sit-in>.

Pictures Work Cited • http://www.achievement.org/achievers/par0/photos/par0-018a.gif • http://sacredhoops.com/images/martin%20luther%20king%20jr.jpg

Civil Disobedience