Civil Disobedience and Justice

Where it surfaces

• Essays

  Central to Thoreau's essays on slavery and moral duty.

• Herald of Freedom

  Rogers' call for action against slavery and his defiance of conventional norms reflect a spirit of civil disobedience and moral justice.

• Wendell Phillips Before the Concord Lyceum

  Thoreau celebrates Phillips' moral independence and his refusal to conform to popular opinion, advocating for individual conscience against unjust institutions.

• On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

  Central theme: Thoreau advocates for resisting unjust laws and prioritizing conscience over legal obligation.

• Slavery in Massachusetts

  Thoreau argues that moral law supersedes constitutional law, condemning judges and officials who enforce unjust laws like the Fugitive Slave Law.

• A Plea for Captain John Brown

  Thoreau justifies Brown's violent resistance as a moral imperative against an unjust government and legal system that upholds slavery.

• The Last Days of John Brown

  The chapter emphasizes the conflict between human law and eternal justice, with Brown's actions embodying a higher moral law that transcends legal statutes.

• I: Concord to Montreal

  Thoreau questions the purpose of military discipline and government, suggesting that true cooperation should be for worthy ends rather than tyrannical control.