Essay - Civil Disobedience the Concept of 'Civil Disobedience' Was First Put...

Civil Disobedience

The concept of "Civil *****" was first put forward by the American author, Henry David Thoreau in his famous essay "***** Disobedience" initially published in 1849 as "Resistance to Civil Government." Although *****'s ***** had little impact in the nineteenth century, his ideas about civil disobedience were put into practice in the twentieth century by leaders such as Mohand***** Ghandhi during India's struggle for independence and by Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights movement by the American blacks.

The concept of "Civil *****" be*****e 1900 was the same as it is now since it has been mainly derived from Thoreau's in*****ial concept. It usually refers to refusal ***** obey civil laws and decrees through passive resistance. People who choose to practice civil ***** deliberately break a l*****w, which they consider as unjust, to bring attention to the injustice. The goal of a ***** disobedience act or movement is ***** get the unjust law amended ***** repealed and the people practicing it are willing to go ***** jail or suffer in o*****r ways f***** their objectives.

Thoreau believed that the individual ***** a higher *****nd independent power and the state obtained its legitimate ***** and authority from the *****. He exhorted the people to resist unjust laws especially if they require a person to be the agent of ***** to another. He ********** that if a ***** is truly in the right, *****n God is on h***** side ***** he constitutes "a majority of one."

As mentioned earlier, most famous civil disobedience movements were conducted in the twentieth *****. However, in ***** pre-1900 period, Thoreau himself practiced "***** Disobedience" by not pay*****g his poll-tax. He did so as he was opposed to several government policies at t***** time such as the continuing practice of slavery and the Mexican War (1846-48) that he considered as unjust and the work of a few people using ***** standing government as a