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   dbello Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   It is in chapter 8 that Thoreau discusses his arrest for failing to pay taxes. Although Thoreau's arrest was caused by his failure to pay taxes, what is most significant is his reasons why. His reasoning was based in his protest of slavery. Thoreau believed that the U.S. war with Mexico in 1846 was rooted in an attempt to extend slvery west. He believed the Mass. poll tax was immoral since it would further the war effort, and as a result he had no alternative but to deny his money go to such a cause. Thoreau was part of the Transcendentalist movement in the U.S. which believed that one should side with morality, something that man made laws sometimes ignored. Thoreau's experience would result in his essay 'Civil Disobedience' which has left its mark on India's independence from Britain, as well as the American Civil Rights movement.

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   Posted by dbello on Monday March 2, 2009 at 5:14 PM