In "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau asserts the right of an individual to follow his or her conscience to do what he or she feels is right, even though the state may not agree with him or her. In this paragraph, he supports his assertion by referring to abolitionism, the campaign to end slavery. He believes that abolitionists should not support the state, either by fighting in the army or by paying taxes. He also states that abolitionists should not wait until they are in the majority because they are in the right morally to protest slavery. Instead, if someone follows his or her conscience and believes that slavery is wrong, that person already constitutes a majority, meaning that person already has the right to protest the government's actions and refuse to fight in the army or pay taxes. If one is morally right, he argues, that person does not need to wait until others agree with him or her before acting.
Referencing what he called "the machine of government," Henry David Thoreau , in...
(The entire section contains 3 answers and 619 words.)
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