1. Civil Disobedience Group 3
Jen Crilly
Alexes Morris
Julia McNamee
Katarina Remolde

2. Not our job to remove unjust laws as citizens
That is the government’s duty
It IS our job, at least, to not support such unfair laws though
As Henry David Thoreau says: “wash his hands of it”
Have nothing to do with the laws

3. “Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also prison.”
Arrested for rebelling against unjust laws
Citizens are only opposing what’s not fair
Government leaders are unjust
Punished for doing what’s right

4. Metaphors Government functions like a machine
Rebellion acts like friction, which causes the machine to slow
We must be a counter friction and not help the government run with laws we disapprove of

5. “If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing you are cheated, or without saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay your due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see to it that you are never cheated again.”
Comparing government to “neighbor” & our rights to “dollar”
Need to take effective, powerful steps to have the government fix unjust laws
Can’t sit back quietly and do nothing (acquiescence)

6. Conscience vs. Actions Thoreau’s Example:
1 person refusing to pay taxes is insignificant (they will simply go to jail)
1000 people refusing to pay their taxes will cause a riot and cause the government to take action and make changes
“Blood” is being shed from a guilty conscience already
Don’t be afraid of being wounded or punished by the government for rebelling

7. Summary
“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?”
Acquiescence vs. Rebellion
We can either follow the laws or disobey them until they are changed
Thoreau favors taking action over obedience