Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreau
I have been reading the afore-mentioned book recently and have been struck profoundly by some of the writings. I wish to briefly mention a few of them here.
The first passage that strongly resonated with me was a description of a time when Thoreau was put in jail for non-payment of taxes: “I could not but smile to see how industriously they locked the door on my meditations, which followed them out again without let or hindrance, and THEY were really all that was dangerous. As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body; just as boys, if they cannot come at some person against whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog. I saw that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it.” I love this! It is so true that the State can force a body to do what they desire it to, but they cannot force a man’s mind to do anything. This is an idea that is also eloquently expressed in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
The second passage that I want to share today is in a similar context. Thoreau has been ordered by the law to pay a tax/tool to a church which he never attended. He writes a letter to the town clerk saying “I, Henry Thoreau, do not wish to be regarded as a member of any incorporated society which I have not joined.” He then goes on to write “If I had known how to name them, I should then have signed off in detail from all the societies which I never signed on to; but I did not know where to find a complete list.” We are said to be members of various societies every day that we did not consciously agree to, not the least of which is the State. I was never asked to participate in the social contract that makes our society; rather, it is presumed and forced upon each of us without our explicit consent.
Thoreau is one of the fathers of non-violent resistance to government. His example inspired men like Martin Luther King, Jr. to rise up in their own non-violent ways to defy the State’s power to control their lives. The more I read of Thoreau’s writings, the more inspirational he becomes to me.
