Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience

Resisting government or intentionally

breaking a law that one believes is unjust

Is done to show ones opposition to a certain law

May be peaceful or violent Thoreau believes it is necessary for

every man to do such to show his believe and “what gov’t would command his respect”

What it is

“If the injustice is part of the necessary friction

of the machine of government, let it go, let it go perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the machine will wear out.”

Here he is encouraging opposition to the government, and that eventually you point will get across

Resisting the Government

“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content

to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?

Thoreau is challenging the men of Massachusetts whether to suppress to the unjust laws or weather they will stand up and fight for it.

The Challenge

 “ Let every man make known what kind of

government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it”.

Thoreau believes that in a majority rule every man should have input into the government

He also believes that one should use is conscience over what the majority rules to be just

Speak your mind

The Abolitionist Movement

Many abolitionist during that anti-

slave movement used civil disobedience to free many slaves.

The underground railroad was started in

Pennsylvania to help lead slaves to freedom safely. Harriet Tubman(1820-1930) was one of the many “conductors” that lead many slaves to freedom.

Because Tubman was helping slaves escape freedom which was against black laws. She was breaking the law, and could have been severely punished, because in her conscience she felt it was the right thing to do.

The Underground Railroad

Jonathon Walker was a sea captain that, like

Harriet Tubman, helped traffic slaves to freedom. He was caught and jailed for one year for breaking the Black Laws.

He used civil disobedience to go against the government for something that he felt was wrong in the world.

Jonathon Walker

Nat Turner, a former slave,

lead a rebellion to free many slaves from bondage killing 55 white men.

Nat Turner was forced to go into hiding because of his act of civil disobedience to free himself and many others.

Nat Turner

The Civil Rights Movement

On February first, 1960, four students

in North Carolina walked into a white only diner in Greensboro. This was very popular in the community at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State because the next day, 29 students sat in at the same lunch counter. The state police did nothing bout this, however they prosecuted the white people that took violent actions toward the students. Although they were not arrested for doing this, the students were disobeying a law in which they were black and they sat at an all white lunch diner.

Greensboro Sit-ins

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was sitting in

the front of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama ad was asked to move to the back by a white passenger because that is where black people were supposed to sit if no seats in the front were open or if a white person didn’t ask hem to move. She was then arrested and charged with violating a civil ordinance and was fined for doing so.

This started the Montgomery Bus Boycott where Blacks in Montgomery decided to not ride the bus until there was full integration in the public bus system. This integration was in no way immediate though. It took over a year for the boycotters and the city to come to an agreement. Although it is not illegal for people to not ride the bus, the reason it would be considered civil disobedience is because they were peacefully resisting to ride the bus in order to get rid of or revise a law

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The march on Washington in 1963

was to advocate for more jobs and civil rights for African Americans. There were over 200,000 in attendance and that was where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. This is considered civil disobedience because they did not believe in laws and they thought that they were immoral and wrong so they had a peaceful resistance in which they pulled through and succeeded in getting more jobs for blacks.

March on Washington

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