Examples Of Peaceful Resistance In Civil Disobedience

712 Words2 Pages

Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. Even in a democracy there are unjust laws, the question comes down to how we handle these laws. Should we be content to obey these laws, or should we try to change them? Most people in a democracy would agree with the second course as the best. There is a right to "revolution" against injustice and one must refuse to support something that is wrong. People should try to change these laws one way to do that is through peaceful resistance. Henry David Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience, in Civil Disobedience Thoreau tells a story about how in protest of slavery, he refused to pay taxes and as a result ended up spending a night in jail. Thoreau explained that this protest was preferable …show more content…

One example of peaceful resistance positively impacting free society is the Suffrage Parade held in 1913. It shared the voices of over 5,000 courageous women speaking out for the right to equal political participation. The women's suffrage movement was an example of peaceful resistance to American women not having the right to be as politically involved as American men. This resistance led to the nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which said, that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Another example of how peaceful resistance to laws has positively impacted a free society is the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott . Rosa Parks,an African American woman, refused to give up her seat for white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was then incarcerated for violating the Jim Crow laws. Her defiant act symbolized greater civil rights, and was a demonstration against segregation. A year later the Unites States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. Cesar Chavez and the California Grape protest is another example of peaceful resistance to laws positively impacting society. Cesar Chavez led a five year strike in Delano, California to demand minimum wage for underpaid and overworked, primarily Filipino workers. This caused more than seventeen million American's to boycott California Grapes, helping to secure unions, better wages, and security for farm workers. Chavez also advocated for peaceful boycotts, protests and hunger strikes which led to legislative changes to end the exploitative abuse of America's Farm workers in the late 1960s. These are just three examples of how nonviolent resistance to laws has positively impacted a free

Show More
Related

  • Thoreau's Proposed Solution in Walden and Civil Disobedience

    1834 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thoreau, Henry. "Civil Disobedience." Elements of Argument: A text and Reader. Ed. Annette T. Rottenberg. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000.

    Read More

  • Transcendentalism In Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    Henry David Thoreau was a mid-nineteenth century transcendentalist philosopher and writer. Thoreau is best remembered for his book “Walden”, detailing his simple life living by Walden Pond. His other most well-known work is “Civil Disobedience”, a philosophical, political piece concerning his views on 19th century America. A fervent pacifist, humanitarian and abolitionist, Thoreau stopped paying his poll taxes (a tax levied on all adults in a community) as a form of protest towards the government for the Mexican American War and slavery. After being imprisoned in July 1846 for not paying his taxes, Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience in response. The two main things that Thoreau argues for in “Civil Disobedience” are the idea of a limited government

    Read More

  • Examples Of Civil Disobedience In The United States

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Black Lives Matter. Women’s Marches. In today’s society, we need not look far to see various examples of civil disobedience. Yet, there is still much opposition on the people’s right to speak up - to fight for their rights. Why is this so, when our country seems to have evolved into what it is today, precisely because of it? It is my firm belief that while the United States of America remains a free society - a democracy run by the people - the protesting of unjust laws and traditions will always have a uniquely positive impact in the country.

    Read More

  • Thoreau’s Act of Civil Disobedience

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thoreau was once sent to jail for refusing to pay his taxes and I support this episode of civil disobedience as justified. Thoreau did not pay his taxes because he objected the use of the revenue to finance the Mexican War and enforcement of slavery laws. He did not request for his money to be used for the enforcement of slavery laws, therefore felt he had the right to protest and act out civil disobedience. Paul Harris defines civil disobedience as "an illegal, public, nonviolent, conscientiously motivated act of protest, done by someone who accepts the legitimacy of the legal and political systems and who submits to arrest and punishment" (2). Before I supported his civil disobedience, I opted to see if it was justified.

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience: Rosa Parks And The Civil Rights Movement

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery in 1955, she engaged in one of the most iconic acts of civil disobedience in American history. She was arrested, and her nonviolent resistance of segregation laws led to the famous Montgomery bus boycott. Although many people hail Parks’ act of civil disobedience as one of courage and great importance, today the topic of civil disobedience is controversial. Some criticize this form of protest as a path to anarchy, and others say that it is not defiant enough. However, peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because it can help marginalized groups, challenge immoral war, and combat harmful corporate interests.

    Read More

  • Influencial Acts of Civil Disobedience

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the centuries, some leaders have believed that private citizens should rebel against injustice in a non-violent rebellion. These leaders have had courage and passion to start or encourage revelations; they have committed acts of civil disobedience to protest these laws put up by a corrupt government. The leaders were willing to give up their lives or freedom because their conscience would not let them rest and accept the unjust laws. Some of these leaders include Henry David Thoreau, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Malala Yousafzai. To illustrate, a famous man of literature and a leader of civil disobedience acts is Henry David Thoreau.

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the past in this country, Thoreau wrote an essay on Civil disobedience saying that people make the law and have a right to disobey unjust laws, to try and get those laws changed.

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    Henry David Thoreau, a philosopher and creative artist as well as an anti slavery activist, wrote his short story “From Resistance to Civil Disobedience”. In this story he’s arrested for not paying his state taxes. At the time the state was engaged in the Mexican-American War that was not only fought over boundaries expanding slavery but was also enacted by President Polk under his own decision. Thoreau thought the war was too aggressive and without just reason.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Civil Disobedience

    3701 Words  | 8 Pages

    Comparing the Civil Disobedience of Martin Luther King Jr., Henry David Thoreau, and Mohandas Gandhi

    Read More

  • Thoreau and King, Jr.

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thoreau wrote "Civil Disobedience" in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An expression of the individual's liberty to create change" (Thoreau 530). Thoreau felt that the government had established order that resisted reform and change. "Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary" (Thoreau 531).

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience as a Method of Protest

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    By definition, civil disobedience means to actively refuse to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence (Wikipedia 2007). Many of the influential people in history have felt passionately about what they believe. These passions caused them to rebel against a government or authority. Many times they felt so strongly about what they believed and how they were being treated was wrong they became disobedient. They would take physical and verbal abuse for being disobedient but would never retaliate. They believed in what they thought was wrong and tried to change the way they were governed. Albert Einstein once said 'never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.' Albert Einstein's views seem to be reasonable. The claim by Albert Einstein is accurate because people should stand up for what they believe, they should know when they are right and their government is wrong, and they should trust in themselves and their own beliefs.

    Read More

  • Peaceful Protest Synthesis Essay

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society because if there isn't, how will people hear the voices of the oppressed and mistreated? Peaceful resistance comes a long way in trying to advance the rights and customs of the oppressed today. For example, The Salt March of 1930 was based on the Salt Act of 1882, which excluded the people the India from producing or getting salt, only British officials. Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of this protest. According to an article by time.com, it says that "The protest continued until Gandhi was granted bargaining rights at a negotiation in London. India didn’t see freedom until 1947, but the salt satyagraha (his brand of civil disobedience) established Gandhi as a force to be reckoned with and set a powerful precedent for future nonviolent protestors, including Martin Luther King Jr.(Sarah Begley,2015)" This means the salt march was a start for India's independence. Also, Gandhi's brand of civil disobedience set precedents for future nonviolent protests. Another Example of how peaceful protests

    Read More

  • Differences Between Civil Rights In The 1950's And 1960s

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    (3) Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955): After the supreme court decided to end segregation, African Americans started to speak out more about their racial opinions. In Montgomery, Alabama, a bus boycott ended with a victory for the African Americans. The Supreme Court ruled that the Alabama segregation laws were unconstitutional. During the boycott a young African American Baptist minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. became well known. Throughout the long contest he advised African Americans to avoid violence no matter had badly provoked by whites. Rosa Parks tired of sitting in the back of the bus, and giving up her seat to white men. One weary day she refused to move from the front of the bus, and she became one of history's heroes in the Civil Rights Act movement.

    Read More

  • Resistance to Civil Government: Henry David Thoreau

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his essay, “Resistance to Civil Government,” often times dubbed, “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) argues against abiding by one’s State, in protest to the unjust laws within its government. Among many things, Thoreau was an American author, poet, and philosopher. He was a firm believer in the idea of civil disobedience, the act of refusing to obey certain laws of a government that are felt to be unjust. He opposed the laws regarding slavery, and did not support the Mexican-American war, believing it to be a tactic by the Southerners to spread slavery to the Southwest. To show his lack of support for the American government, he refused to pay his taxes.

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    An example of civil disobedience would have to be the famous story of Rosa Parks in which she was arrested for Civil Disobedience on December 1, 1955. Rosa Parks stood up for what she had faith in. At about night fall of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, being an African women, was burned out after an extensive day of working, predetermined to take a seat at the front of the bus for her ride home. She refused to give up her seat to a white commuter; she was then taken into custody for overstepping an Alabama law that required black people to give up their seats to white people when the bus was full. Blacks also had to sit at the back of the bus according to Alabama law. Rosa Parks arrest was successful by a one-day bus boycott on her court date. The NAACP knew it needed to carry forward with their action, to prosperously challenge segregated public transportation. The new pastor was Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in which he became the commander of the boycott. He demanded there be nonviolent actions to accomplish the objective of justice. Martin Luther King Jr. quoted, "We must use the weapon of love.” Rosa Parks being arrested flared a 381-d...

    Read More

More about Examples Of Peaceful Resistance In Civil Disobedience

Open Document