Civil Disobedience

According to Thoreau, resistance is a vital part of democracy. Though Thoreau holds contempt for most forms of government he realizes the necessity they sometimes hold for people but urges people not to take what the government tells them to do at point blank. Further, he believes that going through the general democratic political means set up in government is not the correct path either, feeling that if a law is felt to be wrong, then it should be ignored and broken rather than have people attack it legally. To Thoreau, the resistance to the government is what truly shapes it and forces its action to truly represent the will of the people. If the government knows its people will act when upset it will fear its populace and do as the populace wishes, which is what a government should be doing from the beginning in Thoreau’s eyes. Thus resistance is not a nuisance for government to deal with, but rather an integral part that protects the populace while shaping the government that represents them.