Henry David Thoreau‘s (1817-1862) “Civil Disobedience‘ argues that what an individual believes to be right is more important than what is mandated by the government. It says: ‘Under a government that unjustly imprisons, the proper place of a just man is also a prison. In this essay, Thoreau also criticizes the voting system.
More Notes: Civil Disobedience
Thoreau condemns the selection of a candidate for the Presidency through a convention held at Baltimore. The members of the convention were mainly editors of different newspapers and professional politicians. But the author does not find any significance in the decision-making by the editors and politicians for an independent, wise, and respectable man of the country. And many individuals in the country do not attend conventions. Suppose the selection of presidential candidates is made only by a few people like editors and politicians. In that case, the wise, intelligent, and respectable people will have little choice, as they will have to support the decision of those members of the convention.
In that case, a respectable, wise man withdraws from his position as an honorable man and resigns himself to the decision of the convention. As a result, he despairs his country, and the country despairs him. As a result, he depresses his country, and the country depresses him. He has to vote only for the candidate selected as the available candidate. Under these circumstances, his vote is worth no more than that of an evil foreigner or mercenary native who has been bought. So selection of candidates by convention does not mean that right will prevail.
