Henry David Thoreau

Civil Disobedience

Essay defending moral duty to resist unjust government laws

About the author

Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau

American transcendentalist philosopher and naturalist whose Walden records two years living deliberately in the woods near Concord. Civil Disobedience, written in response to his arrest for refusing to pay taxes supporting the Mexican War and slavery, became the foundational text for Gandhi and the civil rights movement.

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