Defending Walden Pond
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Defending Walden Pond
“Government is best which governs least.” Thoreau believes that the government is perverted and has the tendency to abuse its power; therefore, Thoreau does not trust the government. Thoreau believes in the case of the Mexican-American war that the people who work in government have manipulated national policies to their advantage, despite what the citizens want. Thoreau believes that the government is inherently evil, oppressive and corrupt since it enables a few men to impose their moral will on the majority and to profit economically from their own position of authority. Slavery, a policy enforced by the U.S government that legalized the right of men to own other men. Slavery to Thoreau is a moral evil that should be eliminated. Thoreau states that the government is tyrannical and out of control. Thoreau believed that the government should not allow this and the government has become an agent of corruption and injustice. All men are created equal and Thoreau believed this about blacks as well. The government is not serving the people and a government that isnt serving the people should be overthrown. According to him the government is hindrance to the citizens its supposed to represent. He cites as a prime example the regulation of trade and commerce, and its negative effect on the forces of the free market. Everything that was affecting the free market at the time reverted back to slavery, the free market supports slavery and the government supports the free market. So inherently like the government the free market is evil. Not only was the government wrong for allowing this to take place, they were finding ways to benefit and take full advantage of the situation. The Mexican-American war was a war for pure economic interests. Thoreau does not believe in this and does not believe the free market by any means. He believed that humans had only four basic necessities: food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. The object of each of these necessities is to “conserve an individuals energy.” He also believed that “gluttony is bad,” and so we should “only content ourselves with possessions that we need.” Thoreau focused on living deliberately, and stated “to settle, and to feel reality in its fullness, is the point.” In Thoreaus political works and books, he wasnt advocating an end to the democratic system or a system of capitalism which would be considered to be un-American. Thoreau being a radical he did consider revolution as a viable option and right of men in America. The right to revolution which he spoke about openly combined with his tendency to side with abolitionist would have been grounds enough to charge him of treason.
According to Thoreau, any man has the right and an obligation to enforce his will if it just, even if it goes against majority opinion, the government, or the laws of society. If the government supports unjust or immoral laws, Thoreau believes that it is the duty of the citizens to resist against it. Resistance and fighting for ones rights, Thoreau believes is the purest form of citizenship. Thoreau believes this to be true because he believes that it shows the citizens desire not to just be subordinate to faulty government but to want a better one. Thoreau believes that everything that is unjust or immoral should be changed. If the government doesnt hear the outcries of the citizens Thoreau states that men have a persevered right of revolution, from which Thoreau derives the concept of Civil Disobedience.
In Civil Disobedience Thoreau introduces the right of revolution, which all men recognize, and reflects on the American Revolution. Having found morally compelling issues and also having developed the image of the government as a machine that may or may not do enough good to counterbalance what evil it commits, he urges rebellion. The opponents of reform, who support the system of slavery and also state the expression of opposition to slavery is meaningless. Thoreau believes in individualism that the wrongs of society will be redressed only by the individual, not through the mechanism of government. The individual he states must not support the structure of government, must act with principle, and must break the law if necessary. Thoreau was arrested and found guilty of refusing to pay his taxes. Thoreau believed that this was justified response to avoid financing revenue which would be used to support the Mexican War and enforcement of slavery laws. Thoreau speaks out against slavery, the government, the Mexican-American war, is an abolitionist and aided individuals who have been found of treason. If Thoreau was charged with treason and the case would hold up in court. Treason is defined in The Constitution as levying war against the United States, or in adhering to its enemies, by giving them aid and comfort. Under this definition Thoreau did break the law because he was an abolitionist and was giving aid to other abolitionist as well as slaves and they were considered to be enemies of the nation. Also Thoreau spoke out against the Mexican-American war which is giving aid to the enemy. Treason can also be defined as going against any of the national policies of the U.S which he did. Also if that isnt enough he spoke very heavily about citizens right to revolution which his high treason. Socrates, King, and Jefferson would convince him to defend himself.
Thoreau believes that every citizen should obey all government laws that do not conflict with their moral beliefs. Socrates believes that citizens shouldnt break the law no matter what. Socrates held the position that it is always unjust to disobey the command of the law. In the Crito Socrates brought up three points why citizens should follow the law he believes that the state has provided benefits for its citizens. We should be grateful to those who provide us benefits and therefore, we should display our gratitude by obeying the laws of the state. Socrates also believed that the state is like a parent and the citizen a child; therefore, a child should never disobey the parent. Socrates does believe that if there is a law that is unjust that the government will correct itself. Henry David Thoreau, however, would disagree with Socrates. In his essay Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau discussed how individuals should stand up against any law that they believed was unjust. Henry David Thoreau wasnt an anarchist by any means he just believed that the government that governs least is the best government. Even though they had different ideologies on how they should conduct themselves in society. Socrates believes the citizen to defend himself at trial as he did. When Socrates was put on trial for treason against the state he had the option of fleeing after he was sentenced to death but had decided