Moreover, the unjustified imprisonment of citizens becomes one more concern for Thoreau. Thoreau accepts the desperation of the American people, saying that it is also impossible to fight against the majority. They are tired of these policies, but they feel powerless in front of invading American armies (Thoreau & Rossi, 1992, p. However, this reluctance happens due to a tyrannical government, and people seem to know in advance that nothing can be changed. In addition, Thoreau is concerned about the reluctance of citizens who are not involved in the desire for revolution. The metaphor with a machine may emphasize that the government has no humanistic qualities and its deprivation of the true soul. Thoreau speaks about enslavement, oppression, and imprisonment of citizens, comparing the government to a “machine,” which takes the freedom away from Americans (Thoreau & Rossi, 1992, p. The essay speaks about the dissonance between the actions of government and established laws it illustrates how the government acts against its citizens. The author narrates about resistance to the American government and demonstrates the numerous reasons for this action. Resistance also served as part of Thoreau’s metaphor comparing the government to a machine: when the machine was producing injustice, it was the duty of conscientious citizens to be «a counter friction» (i.e., a resistance) «to stop the machine».Henry David Thoreau’s work, “Resistance to Civil Government,” became an essential input into American history. The latter title distinguished Thoreau’s program from that of the «non-resistants» (anarcho-pacifists) who were expressing similar views. This formed the basis for his essay, which was first published under the title Resistance to Civil Government in 1849 in an anthology called Æsthetic Papers.
In 1848, Thoreau gave lectures at the Concord Lyceum entitled «The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government». 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. 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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