Civil Disobedience - Analysis

Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience was a very outspoken essay on Thoreau's views on the American government. During Thoreau's life time, the major political issues were dealing with the Mexican-American War and with slavery, both of which Thoreau was not a fan of. He was very outspoken about both issues, saying that the Mexican-American War was a sign of aggression by the American government. Thoreau spoke out in protest by not paying a poll tax, which landed him into jail for a night. One of his friends finally bailed him out and the ordeal was over, but he continued to protest his ideas towards the government.

A very popular concept at the time of Thoreau's publication of Civil Disobedience was the concept of Manifest Destiny. The concept had three main points, but one main concept sticks out and pertains to Thoreau. A part of Manifest Destiny told that God was on the side of American expansion, and the people had to do what ever they could to expand the nation. Thoreau was up in arms with the fact that our country was in the middle of the Mexican-American war, which was fought partly because of the belief in Manifest Destiny. Some would say that the concept was almost imperialist, but to the same token, Thoreau was doing just as much wrong as the Mexican-American war was doing to our country. Thoreau spoke out and acted based on his moral compass and his personal beliefs, but our country was in the war over Mexican territory because of the concept of Manifest Destiny, which gave people the right to expansion. Thoreau was getting mad at the war and acting out in the same ways that the war itself was acting towards the other country. He thought that he was doing something for the greater good, but in turn he was doing the exact same thing.

I find that Thoreau hinted at semi religious points throughout his essay. His main idea was that people had a higher power to obey, even higher than the law. He also thought that people had a sense of morality that they would refer to when living their lives. Again, a part of Manifest Destiny was a religious base, which makes Thoreau sound even more like his opposition.

Another important point to be made is on Thoreau's comments on political reform. He claimed that little reform acts would do nothing to the overall picture of society, while he continued to form his own act of rebellion by not paying his tax. He, in turn, did the exact same thing that he was criticizing in his essay. Thoreau went back on a lot of his ideas, but he did show many characteristics of Transcendentalism writing. His main focus was a sense of personal worth over society, or in this case government.  Thoreau also provides a new basis for revolutionary ideas, which he proposed throughout his essay (Thoreau). Thoreau was influenced by writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was a very prominent transcendentalist writer who came up with many of his own ideas himself, which is why this essay is definitely an example of transcendentalist writing.

Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. "'Civil Disobedience'." Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL0453&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 25, 2012).

Thoreau, Henry D. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Richard Lenat, 2009. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html>.