Civil Disobedience Essay Examples

Civil disobedience, also called passive resistance, is the refusal to comply with certain laws is considered unjust, as a peaceful form of political protest.

The term 'civil disobedience' originated with the works of Henry David Thoreau. In 1848, Thoreau used the phrase in an essay to describe his decision to refuse to pay a state poll tax enacted by the U.S. government that would fund a war in Mexico and enforce the Fugitive Slave Law. Though 1848 was the first time the term was used, the act of disobeying laws as a means of protest is far, far older. Instances of the concept are found in Socrates work, the age-old belief in Indian duty or dharma, in the expressions of St. Thomas Aquinas of the Middle Ages, and even in the arguments of John Locke late in the 17th century.
One of the most famous and well-supported instances of long-term civil disobedience can be found with Gandhi and his work in the early 1900s to fight for the civil rights of Indian immigrants in South Africa. When Gandhi began his movement for equality in 1906, he had not yet read Thoreau's essay and instead termed the acts as satyagraha, or firmness in adhering to the truth. Because his goals were based in a desire for moral and societal change as Thoreau described, Gandhi would later equate the two concepts.

Acts of civil disobedience can manifest in any number of ways, though there are several rather popular demonstrations that have been used in non-violent protest. Hunger strikes, sit-ins or sit-downs, the Freedom Rides, and marches have all be effective displays of civil disobedience in American history.