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Henry David Thoreau's Resistance To Civil Government

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Henry David Thoreau’s, “Resistance to Civil Government” exhibits the inevitable tension between rights and responsibilities. More specifically, it portrays an example of political obligation and whether one should submit to unfair demands from political authorities. Thoreau was a strong believer in the demands of conscience over the demands of the State and sought to live as an entirely free person in a world that was not absolutely free. Thoreau’s basic community obligation to the State was to pay his tax. However, as an abolitionist he refused to pay his poll tax in July 1846 as part of his protest against what he regarded as the proslavery agenda of the war against Mexico, landing him one night in jail. This experience inspired him to

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