ABSTRACT
In Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau criticizes the very foundation and principles of American government. The most important secondary idea in Civil Disobedience is that although resistance to political authority will probably entail legal consequences, this is the price of following one’s moral conscience and obligation. The concept of civil disobedience is a key theme in political philosophy, and it has served as the basis for many global struggles. Thoreau also gives numerous hints about his idea of a just political system, though he fails to develop anything close to a comprehensive theory. Thoreau believed that when the injustice caused by a government’s actions becomes too great to bear, conscientious subjects must withdraw their support. That stood in sharp contrast to the dominant utilitarian notions of the time, which asserted that the refusal to submit to political power cannot be legitimate if the social harm such defiance causes is greater than the good it tries to achieve.
