Henry David Thoreau Upstander 

Introduction

Henry David Thoreau is an American writer during the 18th century who is known for his poems and his way of fighting back against his idea of unjust leaders without using violence. Thoreau disliked how US leaders at the time, were running things and decided to not pay taxes but later on was taken to jail. There he wrote more powerful writings about his opinions on leaders swollen with power and their decisions. He was one to follow not just one powerful person but his own mind.

He became a very large inspiration to many nonviolent leaders like Gandhi and MLK.

Thoreau and His Life

Thoreau was born in Concord Massachusetts and was an extremely bright kid. For his academic skills succeeding his other peers, he was sent to Harvard and graduated top in his class of 1837. During that year, America was going through economic depression and it was hard to find jobs, so with his academic skills, he became a teacher.

He worked at a public school for a few weeks but quite due to his disagreement of how the students were disciplined and went to work with his father’s pencil company. He then decided to open his own school in Concord and his brother John helped him and during their time working together, they both fell for the same girl who later on rejected both of them because of their family name. In 1841 Thoreau the school became too much work for Thoreau who at the time was working alone while his brother, John fell ill and the school then closed.

Get quality help now

writer-Charlotte

Verified

Proficient in: Henry David Thoreau

4.7 (348)

“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Thoreau than began to work as a life in handyman for a man named Ralph Weldon Emerson who became a mentor to Thoreau. Emerson introduced him to transcendentalism and his spiritualism and Thoreau urged to become a writer. Thoreau than wanted to become more secluded and wanted privacy and built a small cabin on Walden Pond. While he was there he wrote a book about being alone with himself on a private pond named Walden.

What Struggles Did They Go Through?

Later on, through his life, he refused to pay taxes because he felt that he should not initially support the president if he disagreed with how the money was being spent. He then was arrested for not paying taxes and felt that it was necessary to show a sign of nonviolence resistance. While he was in jail he wrote an essay called Civil disobedience which was his idea on what a civilian should do if they full heartedly disagree with their current leader. He stated that he believes a civilian should not stay silent but should share out their complaints of how the thing was being run. He was then released because someone paid his taxes for him. Him showing that nonpayment was a way of nonviolent protesting, inspired many throughout history.

How Did This Person Access Justice/Solutions?

Thoreau was lead by a man named Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson introduced Thoreau to writers, philosophers, Transcendentalism, and critical thinking. Emerson was a type of mentor to Thoreau and Thoreau looked up to him. Once being shown these things, allowed him to think of what his writing Civil Disobedience should be. The writing Civil disobedience was very important to Thoreau. This was what he felt a civilian should do if they disagree with the government. He had to be completely honest yet not bias. He had to catch the eye of people that felt they needed to do something to have their part said in their society.

Legacy

Thoreau left us with the idea of what it means to be an acting and critical thinking civilian in America and to stand for what we believe is just. He left a mark on some to fight back against unjust people by using nonviolence like Gandhi. He encouraged people to stand up and say something with nonviolence. He showed people that if a president is in the lead and feels that he is being unjust that they don’t need to sit and stay silent but must stand and speak their mind and opinions. He showed that his writings were not just a piece of paper but a piece of history and guidance to nonviolence leaders to fight injustice.