Civil Disobedience

2023 Reprint of the 1903 Edition. Thoreau's famous essay was published originally with the title On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, now often referred to as Civil Disobedience. He wrote it as a protest against an unjust but popular war and the immoral but popular institution of slave owning. He did more than write--he declined to pay his taxes and was hauled off to jail as a consequence. Thoreau asserts that because governments are typically more harmful than helpful, they therefore cannot ...