Democracy is no cure for this, as majorities simply by virtue of being majorities do not also gain the virtues of wisdom and justice. Thoreau asserts that because governments are typically more harmful than helpful, they therefore cannot be justified. The speech dealt with slavery, but at the same time excoriated American imperialism, particularly the Mexican-American War. The environment became especially tense after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.Ī lifelong abolitionist, Thoreau delivered an impassioned speech which would later become Civil Disobedience in 1848, just months after leaving Walden Pond. The slavery crisis inflamed New England in the 1840s and 1850s. "That government is best which governs least" is the famous opening line of this essay. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience or Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849.
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