| "That government is best which governs least"; and ... "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. (beginning) | Read carefully: this is not an argument for anarchy; rather it stands as part of a warning that, despite all efforts to create "a more perfect government," all governments remain as capable of bad or immoral actions as do individual citizens; government will be unnecessary when all citizens are fully responsible (prepared for it); meantime, governmental action is likely to reflect the flaws of the citizenry. |
| "standing army" / "standing government" (1343) | Thoreau points to the harms a government, given improper direction, can do (and note we are looking at a political piece in which he will roundly condemn the American invasion of Mexico; the issues of conquest and of slavery were entwined in this invasion). |
| "character of American people" responsible for her accomplishments (1343) | Thoreau compliments the individual (human) constituents of the American republic, rather than its institutions |
| power in the hands of the majority (bot. 1343) | while not discussing Madison's checks & balances, Thoreau states that majority opinion can be wrong, dangerous, perhaps even evil |
| obey the conscience, not the majority (1343-44) | keep in mind that Thoreau believes the conscience is real, that the good can be discerned by honest, thinking men, and it is the absolute obligation of the individual to be true to his/her conscience |
| army marching in respect to law, but disobedience to conscience (1344) | Thoreau is specifically referring to the army marching off to war with Mexico, though offering the suggestion that all such mindless obedience is wrong |
| "all machines have their friction" ... but ... (1345) | Thoreau suggests that rebellion or disobedience should not be undertaken for trivial reasons, but suggests that 1) slavery and 2) the conquest of Mexico are both more than adequate grounds for disobedience |
| "if I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man ..." (1346) | one must rectify one's own moral errors, even if the cost be one's own life; in political terms, Thoreau holds that slavery must be ended even if it costs the Republic its existence; in moral terms he offers a principle which any but the most ardent utilitarian would accept |
| "voting is a sort of gaming" (1346) | a moral issue is not a poker chip in a game of chance; one does not accept defeat when defeat implies acquiescence in immoral conduct |
| "it is not a man's duty ... to devote himself to the eradication of any ... wrong ... it is his duty to wash his hands of it ..." (bot. 1347) | If one benefits from the immoral actions of others (one's government), one is responsible; one must either step aside (change one's situation so that one does not benefit) or stand in opposition. |
| "Unjust laws exist ..." (1348 - 49) | Thoreau ventures details on when one may, in conscience, allow injustice to continue and when one must, in the name of conscience, take action. The suggestion is that one should not be a busy-body, out seeking after "causes," but that, in the face of great injustice, one must take action -- efficacious action; the remedies allowed by the state may be too life-consuming and too feeble to do. |
| "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." (1350) | A key claim: one must identify with the victim, not the oppressor; it is one's moral obligation to share the victim's fate. |
| the difficulties of civil disobedience for a man with property & family (1351) | An honest reminder that some (and not the author) are in danger of particular penalties from the government |
| Confucius quote (1352) on the nature of moral obligation. | Reiterates the moral obligation to disobey |
| unjust taxes (mid-1352) | Thoreau notes the religious levy charged by the state; note that he needed only to inform the locale that he was not a member of said church to have his obligation removed. |
| 1352-54 describe his night in jail | Here we see a bit of Thoreau's dry humor in his description of the jail and his cellmate. |
| "good neighbors ... for summer weather only" (1354) | Thoreau takes his neighbors to task for failing to join him in disobedience to unjust law |
| "I never declined paying the highway tax ..." | Thoreau reminds his readers of the obligation to be a good neighbor; again this is a prescription for action against injustice, not an invitation to anarchy or even libertarianism |
| "They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountainhead." (1358) | The ultimate source of knowledge and morality is something beyond the Constitution and beyond the Bible (both of which Thoreau acknowledges as excellent documents); it appears that Thoreau is suggesting that the conscience of a reflective person can take him higher & closer to perfect knowledge than any reliance on any past standards. |
| concluding paragraph (1358) | Centers on the recognition of the individual, as one who must be fully respected if the State is to be just to all men. |