Jaala Smith(B) Julianna Williams(A)& Collise Dennis(C)

How was civil disobedience employed in the Abolitionist Movement? Find and explain in detail three example s. Civil disobedience was employed by people who were antislavery and abolitionist. They didn’t agree with slavery so they choose to go against their civil citizen’s ways and make a stand for what they believe in. Question B

Henry David Thoreau Refused to pay poll tax for several years and ended up in jail for one night. He was showing that he didn’t agree with the government so he resisted supporting it.

Nat Turners Rebellion In Virginia in 1831, his men fought back against the white men to show them that they would not stand to be treated the way they’re being treated. In a way they treated the white man as the white men would treat African Americans. (going against slave codes)

William Lloyd Garrison Founded The New England Anti-Slavery Society. He was a respected white man abolitionist that disagreed with other white men like him because he was not joining the crowd; he knew that slavery is wrong and he was changing the stereotype that African Americans were to see all whites as their enemies. He went against the Fugitive Slave Act and helped Africans Americans escape from their landowners.

According to Henry David Thoreau, what is Civil Disobedience? Find and explain three excerpts from the text of Civil Disobedience that help us understand the concept. Question A

“ But, if I deny the authority of the State when it presents its tax bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my children without end. This is hard. This makes it impossible for a man to live honestly, and at the same time comfortably, in outward respects. ” Henry David Thoreau explains the effects of using Civil Disobedience as such, in order to live an honest and comfortable life where you speak against the injustices of the government; you would also have to deal with the consequences that come with it. For instance your children and yourself would be harassed “without end”, Thoreau also goes on to acknowledge, that this is a hard bargain, because the only way to live an honest life is to give up the comfort that comes with being a wooden man.

“… to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual.” This quote from the Civil Disobedience document truly illuminates the essence of what Henry David wanted to convey, that you as the “governed” are in no way obligated to oblige by the law if you do not believe it has justifiable substance. “ It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it.” This idea is quite similar to those of John Locke in which he believed that it was ultimately up to the people to withdraw the reigns of the government when they went against a term he referred to as “the public good”.

“This, then is my position at present. But one cannot be too much on his guard in such a case, lest his actions be biased by obstinacy or an undue regard for the opinions of men. Let him see that he does only what belongs to himself and to the hour.” In this statement I think Henry is expressing his approach to Civil Disobedience, but yet he says that “one cannot be too much on his guard in such a case” meaning that you can’t oppose something simply because you personally just don’t want to do it. Henry’s ultimate point is to use this liberty wisely.

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