What does Thoreau mean by civil disobedience?

What does Thoreau mean by civil disobedience?

Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience espouses the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. When a government is unjust, people should refuse to follow the law and distance themselves from the government in general.

What is the main idea of civil disobedience?

Civil disobedience, also called passive resistance, the refusal to obey the demands or commands of a government or occupying power, without resorting to violence or active measures of opposition; its usual purpose is to force concessions from the government or occupying power.

What is Thoreau best known for?

What is Henry David Thoreau known for? American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher Henry David Thoreau is renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism as recorded in his masterwork, Walden (1854). He was also an advocate of civil liberties, as evidenced in the essay “Civil Disobedience” (1849).

What does a transcendentalist believe in?

Transcendentalists believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly “self-reliant” and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community can form.