Practice and Apply
summary
In these excerpts from “Civil Disobedience,”
Thoreau argues that citizens must follow their
conscience and fight government injustice in
a peaceful manner. For example, he refuses to
pay taxes that fund causes that he opposes—
an action that lands him in jail but frees him
spiritually.
Civil
Emerson’s “Self-Reliance.” In 1846, he spent a night in jail for refusing to pay a
poll tax—a tax one had to pay in order to vote—as an act of protest against the
U.S. government. Thoreau was enraged by the government’s support of slavery
and its war against Mexico, which he viewed as a case of a stronger country
overpowering a weaker one simply to expand its own borders. Inspired by his
experience in jail, Thoreau wrote this essay.
evaluate ideas
Possible answer: By presenting an unusual
interpretation of a common saying, these
lines spark readers’ interest and stir their
emotions, encouraging them to continue
reading. The lines establish that the essay
will explore Thoreau’s view of the proper
role of government—a view that many
readers may not share.
If students need help . . . Define the words
expedient and inexpedient (lines 6–7), using these sentences to add clarification:
• The bridge was an expedient for getting
across the river.
• It was inexpedient for us to travel over
the mountain when we could have gone
through the tunnel at its base.
Extend the Discussion Why might modern
readers be less surprised by these comments than readers of Thoreau’s time
might have been?
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I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least;”
and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.
Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,—“That
government is best which governs not at all;” and when men are prepared for
it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government
is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all
governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have a
been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty,
and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing
government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government.
The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have
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chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted
before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the
work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as
their tool; for, in the outset, the people would not have consented to this
measure. . . .
• To what does Thoreau compare a government? Why?
Vocabulary: Suffixes Point out that sometimes more than one suffix is added to a root
or base word. Have students identify the
suffix or suffixes in each of these words:
• What war is going on when Thoreau is
writing?
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unit 2: american romanticism
Reread lines 1–7. What effect
might these lines have on
Thoreau’s readers?
Targeted Passage
13 the present Mexican war: the
1846–1848 war between Mexico
and the United States.
FL_L11PE-u02s32-FrCivil.indd 382
• How does Thoreau believe most people feel
about the war?
• What problems can government face?
a EVALUATE IDEAS
unit 2: american romanticism
for less–proficient readers
1 Targeted Passage [Lines 5–16]
In this passage, Thoreau explains that he is
writing in response to perceived abuses by the
government.
ANALYZE VISUALS
The photographer who created
the image on page 383 made a
deliberate choice to focus not on
the people in the crowd, but on
their shadows. Why might she
have made this choice?
But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves
no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a
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differentiated instruction
Henry David Thoreau
background Thoreau put into practice the ideas expressed in Ralph Waldo
READING SKILL
a
disobedience
for english learners
• rapidly, systematically (line 2): rapid + ly;
system + atic + al + ly
• government (line 5): govern + ment
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• objections (line 7): object + ions
• weighty (line 8): weight + y
• comparatively (line 14): compare + ative + ly
Discuss how the word meanings change when
suffixes are added.
analyze visuals
Possible answer: By showing just the shadows, the photographer equalizes the people
in this crowd. They are no longer individuals,
distinguished by wealth, race, age, or gender;
instead, they are human presences in a unified
force that works together to convey its ideas or
take action.
background
The Mexican War As part of his 1844 reelection bid, President John Tyler pushed for the
annexation of Texas, then an independent nation. Although Tyler lost the election, the issue
consolidated opposing views: Southerners favored annexing Texas as a slave state, whereas
Northerners feared that doing so would give
slave states too much power in Congress. The
annexation succeeded under Tyler’s successor, James K. Polk, who inherited a boundary
dispute with Mexico. Polk offered to buy the
disputed area from Mexico, along with what
is now New Mexico and California. When
Mexico refused, war broke out. The hostilities
lasted much longer than the quick series of
battles that Polk had hoped for, but it finally
ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
in 1848, in which the Rio Grande border was
finalized and Mexico ceded New Mexico and
California to the United States for $15 million.
MFL_L11PE-u02s32-FrCivil.indd 383
for advanced learners/ap
Synthesize After students have read the first
paragraph of Thoreau’s essay and listened to
the BACKGROUND information on the war
with Mexico, pose these questions:
1/30/08 8:00:25 AM
Have students write a brief paragraph in
response to one of these questions. Then
invite students to share their paragraphs
with the class. Allow time for questions
and discussion.
• How might Tyler and Polk have responded
to Thoreau’s ideas in the first paragraph?
• How might a proslavery Southerner have
responded to Thoreau’s views?
• How might a settler in the disputed area
have responded to Thoreau’s statements
about the people’s role in government?
civil disobedience
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