ABSTRACT
The immediate political problems that inspired Henry David Thoreau to write Civil Disobedience in 1849 were specific to the United States. However, while his attacks on slavery and the Mexican–American War were relevant mostly to the American public of his own time, his argument and conclusions are not restricted to one particular country or historical period. In the twentieth century, Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience influenced countless leaders of resistance movements the world over; the most significant being Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela, who all used civil disobedience tactics to achieve their aims. Gandhi developed his own philosophy called satyagraha, which was influenced by—but, he insisted, not based on—Thoreau’s ideas. Similarly, King ruled out violence as a justifiable means of civil disobedience. These two, however, differ from Mandela, who initially believed in nonviolent civil resistance, but who was eventually forced to embrace armed struggle.
