...Have you ever wondered why people fight for what they believe in even when it means they could get hurt or worse? Well, this is called civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is a refusal to obey rules or someone in authority. There are many examples of civil disobedience the Boston Tea Party and the singing revolution are only two. Civil disobedience brings the good people in the world together to fight for a change for the better. The Boston Tea Party happened as a result of Britain adding taxes to tea in America. The taxes caused people to start smuggling tea onto boats that came from Britain. Americans were furious about the taxes on the tea. They became even angrier when the smuggled tea started to cost more than the non-smuggled tea....
Words: 342 - Pages: 2
...Instances of resistance to the government’s laws have happened in all different eras of histories around the world. In the United States of America, the Constitution’s Bill of Rights grants citizens with various rights. Amendment I allows the American people to protest against the government if they feel like it is taking away their rights to religion, the free exercise of their religion, freedom of speech, and the press. The dissatisfaction of the government led to numerous cases of civil disobedience. Peaceful resistance can be demonstrated throughout the various protests in America, such as the Boston Tea Party, women’s suffrage movement, and the African-American Civil Rights Movement, which positively impacted the free society. The beginnings...
Words: 797 - Pages: 4
...made of immigrants, but couldn't it be said that it was founded by civil disobedience? When the founding fathers sent the Declaration of Independence to King George, they were preparing for the ratifications of the document. The founding fathers were preparing for any of King George’s reactions to the document so it could be categorized as civil disobedience and defying the crown. The United States was built on civil disobedience and still to this today continues to be shaped by it; without it the United States would not exist. Civil disobedience is carved into early United States history, like cave man paintings are to human kind. Another, act of civil disobedience in which that shaped our country very early was the Boston Tea Party. King George forced the stamp act upon the colonies, and the colonies did not wish to pay the tax (to pay fund King George’s wars;) so in this famous historical event (a prime...
Words: 573 - Pages: 3
...The Boston Tea Party was a colonial revolt against exploiting laws imposed by the British in 1773. The colonists believed that Britain had no right to virtually represent them and tax them without full representation. The American colonists embodied the transcendentalist ideas of writer Henry David Thoreau in the belief that a law that is not just should be violated. Through civil disobedience, the colonists brought a greater awareness to their displeasure with British taxes, and inadvertently helped to separate from Britain to form the United States. In the early 17th century, thousands of British natives sailed across the Atlantic ocean and landed in various places throughout the Eastern coastline of America. Men were given charters of...
Words: 759 - Pages: 4
...context to shroud their rational judgement on certain policies. True change occurs when citizens organize initiative to reach a desired outcome that ultimately benefits society. The omnipresent notion of civil disobedience has historically been a detrimental pillar of multitudinous social and political revolutions. Civil disobedience serves a healthy factor of democracy because it creates a vocal platform for unaddressed deficiencies of society, it is an effective approach to promoting change peacefully, and it unifies support for greater reform. One of the most influential ways to communicate the ills of a society is to highlight controversy and shift in human attitudes. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, nonviolent disobedience “seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored” (King Jr.). In fact, one of the most significant elements of the American Civil Rights movement was this doctrine of disobedience. During this time...
Words: 765 - Pages: 4
...Over 200 years ago, the Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams stormed onto tea ships in the Boston harbor in an act of civil disobedience against the tea monopoly the British had given to the East India Company. This act ultimately resulted in the American Revolution. Roughly 150 years after the Boston Tea Party, the British again created a monopoly on a precious good—salt. With the Salt Acts, Britain forced Indians to buy salt from the Empire and prohibited its production. In another act of civil disobedience, Gandhi marched 240 miles to the sea in order to collect salt. He was arrested but his actions ultimately resulted in India’s independence. These two events, although separated by over 150 years and more than 7,000 miles, show the positive...
Words: 800 - Pages: 4
...The Boston Tea Party was an event that took place in Boston, on December, 16, 1773. The Boston Tea Party was an act of civil disobedience. The angry colonists just wanted their voice to be heard without hurting anyone. Did it work? Yes, indeed. The Boston Tea Party was caused by the angry colonists, who were mad at the king, who passed more taxes on them, and as a result there was intolerable acts. Tea was popular in the colonies that they often brewed tea twice a day. The colonists loved their tea. Then their king decided to pass the Tea Act. So then, the colonists start to boycott British goods. The Daughters of Liberty and Women Griffits led the boycott.The Tea Act was not the only tax he passed, there was Stamp Act, Townshend Act, and Quartering Act. But, it's not what I’m trying to cover here....
Words: 516 - Pages: 3
...be a part of Great Britain. Through a combination of organized protests against wrongful taxation, the Sons of Liberty established America’s freedom. A strong rebellion created and nourished by the Sons of Liberty in 18th century America represents one of the greatest achievements of civil disobedience. The group of shopkeepers, rebels, and artisans met in the Summer of 1965 to discuss the problems with the recently imposed Stamp Act and Sugar Act. The Stamp Act required that paper products used in the colonies, such as...
Words: 1337 - Pages: 6
...Dissent homework Dissent means, as a noun, strong difference of opinion on a particular subject; disagreement, especially about an official suggestion or plan or a popular belief; or, as a verb, to disagree with other people about something (“Dissent” Cambridge Dictionaries Online). Its synonyms are disagree, differ, objection and protest, whereas its antonyms are assent, agree and accede. Civil disobedience is, according to John Rawls, “a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies”, and “given its place at the boundary of fidelity to law, is said to fall between legal protest, on the one hand, and conscientious refusal, revolutionary action, militant protest and organised forcible resistance, on the other hand” (“Civil Disobedience”). For example, the Boston Tea Party is generally considered as an action of civil disobedience, as well as legal protests. Puritans were dissenters, because they were against the unnecessary ceremony, rituals and hierarchy in the Church of England. They believed these things are obstacles between God and humans. Antinomian means one who holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation (“Antinomian” Merriam-Webster). They, who were “some Puritans in both England and Massachusetts Bay,” believed, under the covenant of grace, “an individual was virtually freed from the...
Words: 488 - Pages: 2
...have to. Civil disobedience and rebellion is justified, particularly in the United States. Locke and King support their view with a variety of arguments. Thomas Hobbes, on the other hand, views any kind of rebellion as unacceptable. This essay will review the effectiveness of both positions, but in the end civil disobedience is justified in the United States. John Locke argues that resistance against one's government is acceptable under certain circumstances. Locke believes that we have God-given rights,which are: life, liberty, limb, health, and property. If at any point our government fails to protect those rights then we are allowed to step in in a non-violent way. It is up to the individual to enforce own executive power. Martin Luther King Jr.’s argument is very similar. He discusses multiple biblical figures. They fought for what they believed in an a non-violent, yet extreme way. King says: “... Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative...
Words: 611 - Pages: 3
...really stood out when addressed those who categorized him as an extremist; he listed people in history who were “extremists” these people included: Jesus, Paul, Martin Luther, Abraham Lincoln and a few more. What King was really saying is that they only called him extremist because what he wanted was something they were against, not because his means were extreme. His appeal to ethics was critical when he wrote about how we should only be obligated to follow the just laws and that the unjust laws can be disobeyed in an attempt to make a change. This act or lack of action is called Civil Disobedience. Civil Disobedience has been used many times throughout history and he uses some of these examples in his letter: Socrates, Early Christians, and the Boston Tea Party. These are effective points because his opposition probably saw these examples as acceptable, but in their eyes his form of civil disobedience was not. Martin Luther Kings appeal to emotions his strongest element and is really evident through the entire letter, when he writes about the cruelty of the Birmingham Police Department, about telling his daughter that they cannot go to the new amusement park, and many more examples. King wrote an incredibly effective letter that should break the hearts of all of its readers whether they read it at the time or are reading it...
Words: 278 - Pages: 2
...Civil Disobedience is a tradition carried on by those willing to accept the consequences. Muhammad Ali is one example, he firmly stood up and opposed joining the military draft. That soon caused him to be stripped of his boxing title and was sentenced to five years in prison, but was appealed and avoided his prison sentence. Another example is Henry David Thoreau, who spent a night in jail for not paying his taxes, in protest of the Mexican American War. The influence of Henry Thoreau's writing has been read by civil rights leaders in the United States and around the world over the years. He believes when the government is doing wrong that the people should refuse to follow the law, like he did due to the practice of slavery in some territories. And the only purpose of the government was to ensure individual freedom and not misuse...
Words: 501 - Pages: 3
...cannot be resisted,” (“The History of a Crime”); while taking up arms can eventually become the only solution to a dire situation, many times all that is required to capture the heart of a nation is an invasion of ideas. Throughout history, many men and women have decided to fight the injustice of governments with armies of ideas and principles. Rather than resort to violence, they chose the path of civil disobedience. Peacefully, they protested against unfair, discriminatory, and prejudiced regulations; many purposefully broke laws, fully accepting the consequences. This civil disobedience is not only absolutely necessary in a free society, but the actions of people like our founding fathers, various equal rights activists, and modern fair wage protesters have benefited culture in countless ways. In 1772, John Adams said, “Liberty, under every conceivable form of government, is always in danger…the only maxim of a free government ought to be to...
Words: 799 - Pages: 4
...GKE1 Task 3, Historical Systems of Power and Authority Part A The rise of colonialism in North America occurred in the 1600’s by the British. Britain had sent to North America, colonists which were to establish new settlements in the name of the crown and Britain. Most of the colonists were privately funded with endorsement by the British government. The Idea of colonization was to establish settlements for the purpose of expanding a trade base for economic purposes. Britain colonized North America basically because they had a limited amount of land and natural resources, North America presented a great opportunity to expand their land holdings and create a source for raw materials. Britain still considered the colonists to be British citizens and therefore were expected to abide by rules and laws established by Britain for the colonists. Britain exerted tight control of the colonists through laws and acts that were specifically designed for the benefit of Britain. The needs of Britain were always put first before the needs of the colonists. Acts and taxes were put in place as a means to control trade and make sure that monetary items were received by Britain. The economic cycle was one of Britain obtained raw materials cheaply from the colonies, the goods were finished in England and sold back to the colonists for large profits. The colonies in North America were strictly established for the economic benefit of Britain. Also there was great prestige in this era that came from...
Words: 1348 - Pages: 6
...The Boston Tea Party, Nat Turner's slave rebellion, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Edward Snowden; resistance, peaceful or not, to injustice has, since its inception, been a quintessentially American ideology, core to ensuring our tenets of civil liberty and equality go unfettered. It is ultimately on the shoulders of the citizens of a state to regulate that state as much as it is the state's responsibility to oversee its people. Therefore, when the state engages in actions which infringe on the rights of the people, with no in-built measures possible or easily accessible to lawfully enact change, those wrongfully affected ought to rise up and change those actions through force (force meaning action, not necessarily violence). An axiom...
Words: 799 - Pages: 4
