Response for H.W due 4/2

“Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience? — in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice”http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil1.html

This passage is about the government deciding what is right and wrong based on majority rules but instead it should be decided by one’s inner sense and ethical/moral principles. Thoreau is expressing his concerns about how being conscience should over power corporations and laws. Morality should come before law. “Civil Disobedience” is about breaking the law and testing authorities in a non-violent way. This passage relates to “Civil Disobedience” because Thoreau is suggesting that people should respect the law, but a person should only feel compelled to do what they think is “right”. Like civil disobedience, choosing conscience over the law is choosing morality and disregarding unfair laws.

I chose this passage because I believe that as a human, as a person, it is important that we always pay attention and listen to our inner sense. Not to say that people should break all the laws and ignore the government, but if right is right and wrong is wrong. If it does not feel right, it should not be done. A line that Thoreau stated that really stood out to me was “I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.” This is important for people who believe the law and the government is absolutely correct and as humans, we should do exactly what they want us to do. We are humans, we are people before we are citizens following a million laws ignoring what feels right and what feels wrong.