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On the Duty of Civil Disobedience · On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

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On the duty of civil disobedience by Henry David Thurrow eighteen forty nine. Original
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title Resistance to Civil Government, Part one. I heartily accept the motto that
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government is best which governs least, and I should like to see it acted
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up to more rapidly and systematically carried out. It finally amounts to this,
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which also I believe that government is best which governs not at all, and
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when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which
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they will have. Government is at best but an expedient, but most governments
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are usually and all governments are sometimes inexpedient. The objections which have been brought
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against a standing army, and they are many and weighty and deserve to prevail,
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may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army
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is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is
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only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally
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liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness
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the present Mexican War, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing
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government as their tool. For in the outset, the people would not have
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consented to this measure. This American government, what is it but a tradition,
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though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but
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each instant losing some of its integrity. It has not the vitality and force
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of a single living man, for a single man can bend it to his
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will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves. But
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it is not the less necessary for this, for the people must have some
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complicated machinery or other, and hear its din to satisfy that idea of government
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which they have. Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed upon,
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even impose on themselves for their own advantage. It is excellent we must all
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allow. Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise. But by the
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alacriate with which it got out of its way, it does not keep the
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country free. It does not settle the West, It does not educate the
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character inherent in the American people. Has done all that has been accomplished,
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and it would have done somewhat more if the government had not sometimes got in
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its way. For government is an expedient by which men would fain succeed in
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letting one another alone. And as has been said, when it is most
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expedient, the governed are most let alone by it. Trade and commerce.
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If they were not made of India rubber, would never manage to bounce over
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obstacles which legislators are continually in their way. And if one were to judge
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these men wholly by the effects of their actions, and not partly by their
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intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who
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put obstructions on the railroads. But to speak practically and as a citizen,
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unlike those who call themselves no government men, I ask for not at once
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no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known
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what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step
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toward obtaining it. After all. The practical reason why, when the power
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is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted and for
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a long period continue to rule, is not because they are most likely to
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be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but
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because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule
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in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand
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it. Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually
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decide right and wrong, but conscience, in which majorities decide only those questions
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to which the rule of expediency is applicable. Must the citizen, ever,
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for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the
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legislator? Why has every man a conscience? Then? I think we should
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be men first and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect
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for the law so much as for the right. The only obligation which I
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have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.
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It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience, but a
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corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men
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a whit more just, and by means of their respect for it, even
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the well disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A common and natural
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result of an undue rescipt respect for the law is that you may see a
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file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder monkeys,
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and all marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars against their
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wills, i against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep
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marching, indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart. They have no
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doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned. They are
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all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they men at all? Or small
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movable forts and magazines at the service of some unscrupulous man in power. Visit
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the navy yard and behold a marine, such a man as an American government
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can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts,
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a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out, alive
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and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with
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funeral accompaniment, though it may be not a drum was heard, not a
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funeral note, as his course to the rampart we hurried, not a soldier
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discharged his farewell shot, or the grave where our hero was buried. The
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mass of men served the state thus, not as men mainly, but as
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machines with their bodies. They are the standing army and the militia, jailers,
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constables, posse comitatas, et cetera, in most cases there is no
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free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense. But they put
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themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones, and wooden men can
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perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more
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respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same
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sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are
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commonly esteemed good citizens. Others as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers,
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and office holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads, and as
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they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil
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without intending it as God. A very few as heroes, patriots, martyrs,
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reformers in the great sense, and men serve the state with their consciences
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also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part, and they are
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commonly treated as enemies by it. A wise man will only be useful as
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a man, and will not submit to be clay and stop a hole to
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keep the wind away, but leave that office to his dust. At least,
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I am too high born to be propertied to be a second at control
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or useful serving man. An instrument to any sovereign and state throughout the world.
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He who gives himself entirely to his fellow men appears to them useless and
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selfish, But he who gives himself partially to them is pronounced a benefactor and
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philanthropist. How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today?
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I answer that he cannot, without disgrace, be associated with it.
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I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government, which is
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the slave's government. Also all men recognize the right of revolution, that is
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the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government, when its tyranny
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or its ineffectfficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is
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not the case now. But such was the case, they think, in
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the Revolution of seventy five. If one were to tell me that this was
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a bad government because it taxed certain foreign commodities brought to its ports, it
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is most probable that I should not make an ado about it, for I
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can do without them. All machines have their friction, and possibly this does
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enough good to counterbalance the evil. At any rate, it is a greater
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evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have
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its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us
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not have such a machine any longer. In other words, when a sixth
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of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty
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are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign
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army and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon
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for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent
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is that fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours
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is the invading army. Paley, a common authority with many on moral questions,
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in his chapter on the duty of submission to civil government, resolves all
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civil obligation into expediency, and he proceeds to say that, so long as
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the interest of the whole society requires it, that is, so long as
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the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconvenience, it is the
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will of God that the established government be obeyed. And no longer this principle
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being admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a
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computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side, and
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of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other. Of this,
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he says, every man shall judge for himself. But Paley appears never to
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have contemplated those cases to which the rule of expediency does not apply, in
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which a people as well as an individual, must do justice, cost what
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it may. If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man,
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I must restore it to him, though I drown myself. This, according
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to Paley, would be inconvenient. But he that would save his life in
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such a case shall lose it. This people must cease to hold slaves and
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to make war on Mexico, though it cost them their existence as a people.
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In their practice. Nations agree with Paley. But does anyone think that
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Massachusetts does exactly what is right at the present crisis. A drab of stat
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a cloth and silver slut to have her train borne up and her soul trail
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the dirt. Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform in Massachusetts are not
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a hundred thousand politicians at the South, but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers
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here who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity,
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and are not prepared to do justice to the slave and to Mexico cost what
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it may. I quarrel not with far off foes, but with those who
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near at home, co operate with, and do the bidding of those far
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away, and without whom the latter would be harmless. We are accustomed to
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say that the mass of men are unprepared, but improvement is slow because the
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few are not as materially wiser or better than the many. It is not
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so important that many should be good as you as that there be some absolute
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goodness somewhere, for that will leavin the whole lump. There are thousands who
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are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect
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do nothing to put an end to them, Who, esteeming themselves children of
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Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets and say that
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they know not what to do and do nothing, Who even postpone the question
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of freedom to the question of free trade, and quietly read the prices current
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along with the latest advices from Mexico. After dinner, and it may be
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fall asleep over them both. What is the price current of an honest man
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and patriot? To day? They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes
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they petition, but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will
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wait, well disposed for others to remedy the evil that they may no longer
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have it to regret. At most, they give up only a cheap vote
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and a feeble countenance. Send God's speed to the right as it goes by
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them. There are nine hundred and ninety nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous
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man. But it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing
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than with the temporary guardian of it all. Voting is a sort of gaming,
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like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a
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playing with right and wrong, with moral questions, and betting naturally accompanies it.
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The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote perchance
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as I think right, but I am not vitally concerned that that right should
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prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority. Its obligation therefore
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never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right is doing nothing for
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it. He is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail.
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A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance,
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nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but
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little virtue in the action of masses of men. When the majority shall at
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length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are indifferent
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to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished.
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By their vote, they will then be the only slaves. Only his vote
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can hasten the abolition of slavery. Who asserts his own freedom by his vote?
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I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore or else where,
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for the selection of a candidate for the presidency, made up chiefly of editors
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and men who are politicians by profession. But I think, what is it
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to an independent, intelligent and respectable man, what decision they may come to.
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Shall we not have the advantage of this wisdom and honesty? Nevertheless,
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can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in
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the country who do not attend conventions? But no, I find that the
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respectable man so called has immediately drifted from his position and despairs of his country.
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When his country has more reasons to despair of him, he forthwith adopts
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one of the candidates thus selected as the only available one, thus proving that
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he is himself available for any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of
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no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native who may have
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been bought. Oh for a man who is a man, and, as
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my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your
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hand through. Our statistics are at fault. The population has been returned too
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large. How many men are there to a square thousand miles in the country?
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Hardly one does not America offer any inducement for men to settle here.
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The American has dwindled into an awed fellow, one who may be known by
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the development of his organ of gregariousness in a manifest lack of intellect and cheerful
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self reliance, whose first and chief concern on coming into the world is to
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see that the almshouses are in good repair. And before yet he has lawfully
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donned the virile garb to collect a fund to the support of the widows and
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orphans that may be who, in short ventures to live only by the aid
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of the mutual insurance company, which is promised to bury him decently. It
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is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself
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to the eradication of any even to most enormous wrong. He may still properly
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have other concerns to engage him, but it is his duty at least to
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wash his hands of it, and if he gives it no thought longer,
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not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits
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and contemplations, I must first see at least that I do not pursue them
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sitting upon another man's shoulders. I must get off him first, that he
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may pursue his contemplations too. See what gross inconsistency is tolerated. I have
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heard some of my townsmen say I should like to have them order me out
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to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or to march to Mexico.
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See if I would go. And yet these very men have, each
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directly by their allegiance, and so indirectly at least by their money furnished a
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substitute. The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by
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those who do not refuse to sustain. The unjust government which makes the war
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is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught,
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as if the state were penitent to that degree that it hired one to
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scourge it while it sinned, but not to that degree that it left off
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sinning for a moment. Thus, under the name of order and civil government,
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we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own
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meanness. After the first lush of sin comes its indifference, and from immoral
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it becomes, as it were, unmorral and not quite unnecessary to that life
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which we have made. The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested
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virtue to sustain it. The slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is
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commonly liable. The noble are most likely to incur those who, while they
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disprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance
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and support. Are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most
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serious obstacles to reform. Some are petitioning the state to dissolve the union to
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disregard the WRECS aquisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve it themselves
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the union between themselves and the state, and refuse to pay their quota into
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its treasury? Do not they stand in the same relation to the State that
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the state does to the union, and have not the same reasons prevented the
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state from resisting the Union which have prevented them from resisting the state. How
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can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely and enjoy it? Is
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there any enjoyment in it? If his opinion is that he is aggrieved.
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If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do
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not rest satisfied with knowing you are cheated, or with saying that you are
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cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you your due, But you
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take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount and see to it that
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you are never cheated again. Action from principle, the perception and the performance
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of right, changes things and relations. It is essentially revolutionary and does not
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consist wholly with anything which was. It not only divided states and churches,
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it divides families. Ay, it divides the individual, separating the diabolical in
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him from the divine unjust laws exist. Shall we be content to obey that,
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or shall we endeavor to amend them and obey them until we have succeeded,
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Or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally under such government as
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this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to
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alter them. They think that if they should resist, the remedy would be
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worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that
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the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is
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it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform. Why does it not
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cherish its wise minority. Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt.
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Why does it not encourage its citizens to put out its faults and do
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better than it would have them. Why does it always crucify Christ and excommunicate
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Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels. One would think that
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a deliberate and practical denial of its authority was the only offense never contemplated by
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its government. Else, why has it not assigned its definite, its suitable
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and proportionate penalty. If a man has no property refuses but once to earn
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nine shillings for the state, he is put in prison for a period unlimited
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by any law that I know, and determined only by the discretion of those
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who put him there. But if he should steal ninety times nine shillings from
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the state, he is soon permitted to go at large again. If the
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injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it
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go. Let it go. Perchance it will wear smooth. Certainly the machine
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will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley,
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or a rope or a crank exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider
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whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil. But if it is
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of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to
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another, than I say, break the law. Let your life be a
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counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see
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at any rate that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.
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As for adopting the ways the state has provided for remedying the evil.
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I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a
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man's life will be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I
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came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live
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in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A
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man has not everything to do but something, And because he cannot do everything,
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it is not necessary that he should be doing something wrong. It is
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not my business to be petitioning the governor or the legislature any more than it
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is theirs to petition me. And if they should not hear my petition,
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what should I do then? But in this case, the state has provided
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no way. Its very constitution is the evil. This may seem to be
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harsh and stubborn and unconciliatory, but it is to treat with the utmost kindness
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and consideration the only spirit that can appreciate or deserves it. So is all
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change for the better, like birth and death, which convulse the body.
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I do not hesitate to say that those who call themselves abolitionists should at once
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effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of
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Massachusetts, and not wait till they constitute a majority of one before they suffer
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the right to prevail through them. I think that it is enough if they
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have God on their side, without waiting for that other one. Moreover,
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any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one. Already.
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I meet this American government or its representative, the state government, directly and
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face to face once a year, no more, in the person of its
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tax gatherer. This is the only mode in which a man situated as I
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am, necessarily meets it, and it then says distinctly recognize me. And
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the simplest, the most effectual, and in the present posture of affairs,
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the indispensablest mode of treating with it. On this head of expressing your little
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satisfaction with and love for it is to deny it. Then, my civil
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neighbor, the tax gatherer, is the very man I have to deal with.
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For it is after all with men, and not with parchment, that
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I quarrel. And he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government.
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How shall he ever know well that he is and does as an officer
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of the government or as a man, until he is obligated to consider whether
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he will treat me his neighbor for whom he has respect as a neighbor and
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well disposed man, or as a maniac and disturber of the peace, and
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see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighborliness without a ruder and
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more impetuous thought or speech corresponding with his action. I know this well that
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if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name,
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if ten honest men only, I if one honest man in this state
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of Massachusetts ceasing to hold old slaves, were actually to withdraw from this co
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partnership and be locked up in the county jail, therefore it would be the
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abolition of slavery in America. For it matters not how small the beginning may
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seem to be. What is once well done is done forever. But we
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love better to talk about it that we say is our mission. Reform keeps
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many scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man. If my
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esteemed neighbor, the state's ambassador, who will devote his days to the settlement
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of the question of human rights in the Council chamber, instead of being threatened
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with the prisons of Carolina were to sit down the prisoner of Massachusetts, that
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state which is so anxious to foist the sin of slavery upon her sister,
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though at present she can discover only an act of inhospitality, to be the
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ground of a quarrel with her, the legislature would not wholly waive the subject
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of the following winter. Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place
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for a just man is also a prison. The proper place today, the
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only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less despondent spirits, is
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in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the state by
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her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles.
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It is there that the future slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole,
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and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race should find them on
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that separate, but more free and honorable ground where the state places those who
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are not with her but against her, the only house in a slave state
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in which a free man can abide with honor. If any think that their
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influence would be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear of
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the state, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls.
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They do not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how
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much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in
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his own person. Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely,
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but your whole influence. A minority is powerless while it conforms to the
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majority. It is not even a minority, then, but it is irresistible
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when it clogs by its whole weight. If the alternative is to keep all
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just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the state will
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not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to pay their
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tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure,
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as it would be to pay them, and a naghbor the state to commit
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violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of
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a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible. If the tax gatherer or
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any other public officer asks me, as one has done, but what shall
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I do? My answer is, if you really wish to do anything,
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resign your office. When the subject has refused allegiance and the officer has resigned
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from office, then the revolution is accomplished. But even suppose blood should flow,
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is there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded.
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Through this wound, a man's real mins manhood and immortality flow out, and
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he bleeds to an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now. End
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of Part one, eighteen forty nine, original title Resistance to Civil Government,
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Part two. I have contemplated the imprisonment of the offender rather than the seizure
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of his goods, though both will serve the same purpose, because they who
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assert the purest right, and consequently are most dangerous to a corrupt state commonly
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have not spent much time in accumulating property. To such the state renders comparatively
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small service, and a slight tax is wont to appear exorbitant, particularly if
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they are obliged to earn it by special labor with their hands. If there
43:07
were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the state itself would
43:14
hesitate to demand it of him. But the rich man, not to make
43:20
any invidious comparison, is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.
43:28
Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue. For money comes between
43:37
a man and his objects, and obtains them for him, it was certainly
43:45
no great virtue to obtain it. It puts to rest many questions which he
43:52
would otherwise be taxed to answer, while the only new question which it puts
43:58
is the hard but supper flowius one how to spend it. Thus his moral
44:06
ground is taken from under his feet. The opportunities of living are diminished in
44:14
proportion as that are called, the means are increased. The best thing a
44:22
man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry
44:27
out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor. Christ answered the Herodians,
44:36
according to their condition, show me the tribute money, said he,
44:42
and one took a penny out of his pocket. If you use money which
44:46
has the image of Caesar on it, and which he has made current and
44:52
valuable, that is, if you are men of the state and gladly enjoy
45:00
the advantages of Caesar's government, then pay him back some of his own when
45:07
he demands it. Render therefore to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to
45:14
God those things which are God's, leaving them no wiser than before as to
45:22
which was which, For they did not wish to know when I converse with
45:30
the freest of my neighbors, I perceive that whatever they may say about the
45:37
magnitude and seriousness of the question and their regard for the public tranquility, the
45:44
long and the short of the matter is that they cannot spare the protection of
45:50
the existing government, and they dread the consequences to their property and families of
45:57
disobedience to it. For my own part, I should not like to think
46:00
that I ever rely on the protection of the state. But if I deny
46:08
the authority of the state when it presents its tax bill, it will soon
46:13
take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my children without
46:19
end. This is hard. This makes it impossible for a man to live
46:25
honestly and at the same time comfortably in outward respects. It will not be
46:35
worth the while to accumulate property that would be sure to go again. You
46:40
must hire or squat somewhere and raise but a small crop and eat that soon.
46:47
You must live within yourself and depend upon yourself, always tucked up and
46:54
ready for a start, and not have many affairs. A man may grow
47:00
rich in Turkey, even if he will be in all respects a good subject
47:06
of the Turkish government. Confucius said, if a state is governed by the
47:13
principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of shame. If a state
47:20
is not governed by the principles of reason, riches and honors are subjects of
47:29
shame. No, until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to
47:36
me in some distant southern port where my liberty is endangered, or until I
47:40
am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I
47:47
can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts and her right to my property and life.
47:57
It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to
48:04
the state than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were
48:08
worth less in that case. Some years ago, the state met me in
48:15
behalf of the church and commended me to pay a certain sum toward the support
48:22
of a clergyman whose preaching my father attended. But never I myself. Pay
48:30
it, said, or be locked up in the jail. I declined to
48:36
pay, but unfortunately another man saw fit to pay it. I did not
48:43
see why the school master should be taxed to support the priest and not the
48:51
priest the schoolmaster, for I was not the state's schoolmaster, but I supported
48:59
my health by voluntary subscription. I did not see why the lyceum should not
49:07
present its tax bill and have the state to back its demand as well as
49:12
the church. However, at the request of the selectmen, I condescended to
49:19
make some such statement as this, in writing, know all men, by
49:25
these presents, that I, Henry Thurrow, do not wish to be regarded
49:30
as a member of any incorporated society which I have not joined. This I
49:39
gave to the town clerk, and he has it. The state, having
49:45
thus learned that I did not wish to be regarded as a member of that
49:50
church, has never made a like demand on me since, though it said
49:57
that it must adhere to its original presumption that time. If I had known
50:01
how to name them, I should then have signed off in detail from all
50:06
the societies which I never signed on to, but I did not know where
50:12
to find such a complete list. I have paid no pull tax for six
50:17
years. I was put into a jail once on this account for one night,
50:24
And as I stood considering the walls of solid stone two or three feet
50:30
thick, the door of wood and iron, a foot thick, and the
50:36
iron grating which strained the light. I could not help being struck with the
50:42
foolishness of that institution, which treated me as if I were mere flesh and
50:50
blood and bones to be locked up. I wondered that it should have concluded
50:58
at length that this was the best use it could put me to, and
51:02
had never thought to avail itself of my services. In some way, I
51:08
saw that if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen,
51:15
there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through before they could
51:20
get to be as free as I was. I did not for a moment
51:28
feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.
51:37
I felt as if I alone, of all my townsmen, had paid my
51:43
tax. They plainly did not know how to treat me, but behaved like
51:49
persons who were under bread. In every threat and in every compliment, there
51:58
was a blunder, for they thought that my chief desire was to stand the
52:04
other side of that stone wall. I could not but smile to see how
52:09
industriously they locked the door on my meditations, which followed them out again without
52:15
let or hindrance, and they were really all that was dangerous. As they
52:22
could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body, just as
52:30
boys, if they cannot come at some person against whom they have a spite,
52:34
will abuse his dog. I saw that the state was half witted,
52:42
that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that
52:47
it did not know its friends from its foes. And I lost all my
52:53
remaining respect for it, and pitied it. Thus, the state never intentionally
53:00
confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body his senses.
53:12
It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical
53:17
strength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my
53:23
own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest, What force has a
53:32
multitude? They only can force me, who obey a higher law than I.
53:39
They force me to become like themselves. I do not hear of men
53:49
being forced to live this way or that by masses of men. What sort
53:55
of life were that to live? When I meet a government which says to
54:01
me your money or your life, why should I be in haste to give
54:07
it my money. It may be in a great strait and not know what
54:13
to do. I cannot help that. It must help itself do as I
54:19
do. It is not worth the while to snivel about it. I am
54:24
not responsible for the successful working of the machinery of society. I am not
54:30
the son of the engineer. I perceive that when an acorn and a chestnut
54:37
fall side by side, the one does not remain inert to make way for
54:45
the other, but both obey their own laws and spring and grow and flourish
54:51
as best they can, till one perchance overshadows and destroys the other. If
55:00
a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies, and so a
55:06
man. The night in prison was novel and interesting enough. The prisoners,
55:14
in their shirt sleeves were enjoying a chat in the evening air in the doorway
55:17
when I entered. But the jailer said, come, boys, it is
55:22
time to lock up. And so they dispersed, and I heard the sound
55:27
of their steps returning into the hollow apartments. My roommate was introduced to me
55:32
by the jailer as a first rate fellow and clever man. When the door
55:37
was locked, he showed me where to hang my hat and how he managed
55:40
matters there. The rooms were whitewashed once a month, and this one,
55:46
at least was the whitest, most simply furnished, and probably neatest apartment in
55:52
town. He naturally wanted to know where I came from and what brought me
55:58
there, And when I had told him, I asked him in my turn
56:02
how he came there, presuming him to be an honest man, of course,
56:08
and as the world goes, I believe he was. Why said he?
56:15
They accuse me of burning a barn, but I never did it,
56:21
As near as I could discover, he had probably gone to bed in a
56:24
barn when drunk, and smoked his pipe there, and so a barn was
56:30
burnt. He had the reputation of being a clever man. Had been there
56:35
some three months waiting for his trial to come on, and would have to
56:39
wait as much longer. But he was quite domesticated and contented, since he
56:45
got his board for nothing, and thought that he was well treated. He
56:52
occupied one window and I the other, and I saw that if one stayed
56:58
there long, his principal business would be to look out the window. I
57:04
had soon read all the tracts that were left there, and examined where former
57:09
prisoners had broken out, and where a grate had been sawed off, and
57:15
heard the history of the various occupants of that room. For I found that
57:19
even there there was a history and a gossip which never circulated beyond the walls
57:22
of the jail. Probably this is the only house in the town where verses
57:29
are composed, which are afterward printed in a circular form, but not published.
57:37
I was shown quite a long list of young men who had been detected
57:39
in an attempt to escape, who avenged themselves by singing them. I pumped
57:46
my fellow prisoner as dry as I could, for fear I should never see
57:51
him again. But at length he showed me which was my bed, and
57:54
left me to blow out the lamp. It was like traveling into a far
58:00
country such as I had never expected to behold. To lie there for one
58:06
night, it seemed to me that I never had heard the town clock strike
58:12
before, nor the evening sound of the village, for we slept with the
58:17
windows open, which were inside the grating. It was to see my native
58:23
village in the light of the Middle Ages, and our concord was turned into
58:30
a rhine stream, and visions of nights and castles passed before me. They
58:37
were the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets. I was
58:42
an involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and said in the kitchen of
58:46
the adjacent village inn. A wholly new and rare experience to me. It
58:52
was a closer view of my native town. I was fairly inside of it.
59:00
I never had seen its institutions before. This is one of its peculiar
59:06
institutions, for it is a Shire town. I began to comprehend what its
59:12
inhabitants were about. In the morning, our breakfasts were put through the hole
59:17
in the door, in small oblong square tin pans made to fit, and
59:22
holding a pint of chocolate with brown bread and an iron spoon. When they
59:30
called for the vessels again, I was green enough to return what bread I
59:34
had left, but my comrade seized it and said that I should lay that
59:38
up for lunch or dinner. Soon after, he was led out to work
59:43
at haying in a neighboring field. Whither he went every day and would not
59:47
be back till noon. So he bade me good day, saying that he
59:52
doubted if he should see me again. When I came out of prison for
59:59
some one into feared and paid that tax. I did not perceive that great
1:00:05
changes had taken place on the common, such as he observed who went in
1:00:08
a youth and emerged a gray headed man. And yet a change had to
1:00:15
my eyes come over the scene the town, and state, and country,
1:00:21
greater than any that mere time could effect. I saw yet more distinctly the
1:00:28
state in which I lived. I saw to what extent the people among whom
1:00:32
I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends, That their friendship was
1:00:39
for summer weather, only, that they did not greatly propose to do right,
1:00:47
That they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions,
1:00:54
as the Chinamen and the Malaise are, That in their sax sacrifices to humanity,
1:01:00
they ran no risks, not even to their property. That after all
1:01:07
they were not so noble. But they treated the thief as he had treated
1:01:13
them, and hoped, by a certain outward observance and a few prayers,
1:01:21
and by walking in a particular, straight, though useless path from time to
1:01:27
time, to save their souls. This may be to judge my neighbors harshly,
1:01:34
for I believe that many of them are not aware that they have such
1:01:37
an institution as the jail in their village. It was formerly the custom in
1:01:42
our village when a poor debtor came out of jail, for his acquaintances to
1:01:45
salute him, looking through their fingers, which they crossed to represent the jail
1:01:52
window. How do ye do My neighbors did not thus salute me, but
1:01:59
first looked at me and then at one another, as if I had returned
1:02:02
from a long journey. I was put into jail as I was going to
1:02:07
the shoemakers to get a shoe, which was mended. When I was let
1:02:13
out the next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand, and having put
1:02:17
on my mended shoe, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient to put
1:02:22
themselves under my conduct, and in half an hour for the horse was soon
1:02:28
tackled. Was in the midst of the huckleberry field, on one of our
1:02:31
highest hills, two miles off, and then the state was nowhere to be
1:02:38
seen. That is the whole history of my prisons. I have never declined
1:02:45
paying the highway tax, because I am as desirous of being a good neighbor
1:02:52
as I am of being a bad subject, and as for supporting schools,
1:02:57
I am doing my part to educate my fellow countrymen. Now, it is
1:03:02
for no particular item in the tax bill that I refuse to pay it.
1:03:07
I simply wish to refuse allegiance to the state, to withdraw and stand aloof
1:03:15
from it. Effectually, I do not care to trace the course of my
1:03:21
dollar. If I could till advise a man or a musket to shoot one
1:03:27
with the dollar is innocent. But I am concerned to trace the effects of
1:03:36
my allegiance. In fact, I quietly declare war with the state after my
1:03:45
fashion, though I will still make use and get what advantages of her I
1:03:50
can, as is usual in such cases, if others pay the tax which
1:03:55
is demanded of me from a sympathy with the state, they do but what
1:04:01
they have already done in their own case, or rather they a bet in
1:04:08
justice to a greater extent than the state requires. If they pay the tax
1:04:14
from a mistaken interest in the individual taxed to save his property or prevent his
1:04:20
going to jail, it is because they have not considered wisely how far they
1:04:27
let their private feelings interfere with the public good. This then is my position
1:04:35
at present. But one cannot be too much on his guard in such a
1:04:40
case, lest his actions be biased by obstinacy or an undue regard for the
1:04:46
opinions of men. Let him see that he does only what belongs to himself
1:04:55
and to the hour. I think sometimes why this? People mean? Well,
1:05:01
they are only ignorant. They would do better if they knew how Why
1:05:09
give your neighbors this pain to treat you as they are not inclined to?
1:05:15
But I think again, this is no reason why I should do as they
1:05:19
do, or permit others to suffer much greater pain of a different kind.
1:05:26
Again, I sometimes say to myself, when many millions of men, without
1:05:32
heat, without ill will, without personal feelings of any kind, a demand
1:05:39
of you a few shillings only, without the possibility, such is their constitution,
1:05:45
of retracting or altering their present demand, and without the possibility on your
1:05:50
side of appeal to any other millions, Why expose yourself to this overwhelming brute
1:05:58
force. You do not resist cold and hunger, the winds and the waves.
1:06:03
Thus obstinately you quietly submit to a thousand similar necessities. You do not
1:06:11
put your head into the fire, but just in proportion. As I regard
1:06:15
this as not wholly a brute force, but partly a human force, and
1:06:23
consider that I have relations to those millions, as to so many millions of
1:06:30
men, and not of mere brute or inanimate things. I see that appeal
1:06:36
is possible, first and instantaneously from them to the maker of them, and
1:06:46
secondly from them to themselves. But if I put my head deliberately into the
1:06:56
fire, there is no appeal to fire or to the maker of fire.
1:07:00
And I have only myself to blame. If I could convince myself that I
1:07:06
have any right to be satisfied with men as they are, and to treat
1:07:12
them accordingly and not according in some respects to my requisitions and expectations of what
1:07:19
they and I ought to be, then like a good mussulman and fatalist,
1:07:28
I should endeavor to be satisfied with things as they are, and say it
1:07:33
is the will of God. And above all there is this difference between resisting
1:07:43
this and a purely brute or natural force. That I can resist this with
1:07:47
some effect, but I cannot expect, like Orpheus, to change the nature
1:07:55
of the rocks and trees and beasts. I do not wish to quarrel with
1:08:00
any man or nation. I do not wish to split hairs, to make
1:08:09
fine distinctions, or set myself up as better than my neighbors. I seek,
1:08:15
rather, I may say, even an excuse for conforming to the laws
1:08:21
of the land. I am but too ready to conform to them. Indeed,
1:08:29
I have reason to suspect myself on this head, and every year,
1:08:32
as the tax gatherer comes round, I find myself disposed to review the acts
1:08:39
and position of the general and state governments, and the spirit of the people,
1:08:44
to discover a pretext for conformity. We must affect our country as our
1:08:49
parents, and if at any time we alienate our love or industry from doing
1:08:56
it honor, we must respect effects and tear each the soul matter of conscience
1:09:01
and religion, and not desire of rule or benefit. I believe that the
1:09:09
state will soon be able to take all my work of this sort out of
1:09:12
my hands, and then I shall be no better patriot than my fellow countryman.
1:09:17
Seen from a lower point of view, the Constitution, with all its
1:09:21
faults, is very good. The law and the courts are very respectable.
1:09:30
Even this state and this American government are in many respects very admirable and rare
1:09:40
things to be thankful for, such as a great many have described them seen
1:09:47
from a higher still, and the highest who shall say what they are or
1:09:55
what they are worth looking at or thinking of at all? However, the
1:10:01
government does not concern me much, and I shall bestow the fewest possible thoughts
1:10:08
on it. It is not many moments that I live under a government,
1:10:12
even in this world. If a man is fought free, fancy, free,
1:10:18
imagination, free, that which is not, never for a long time
1:10:25
appearing to be to him, unwise rulers are reformers cannot fatally interrupt him.
1:10:33
I know that most men think differently from myself, But those whose lives are
1:10:41
by profession devoted to the study of these or kindred subjects content me as little
1:10:45
as any. Statesmen and legislators standing so completely within the institution never distinctly and
1:10:55
nakedly behold it. They speak of moving society, but have no resting place
1:11:03
without it. They may be men of a certain experience and discrimination, and
1:11:11
have no doubt invented ingenious and even useful systems for which we sincerely thank them.
1:11:19
But all their wit and usefulness lie within certain not very wide limits.
1:11:28
They are wont to forget that the world is not governed by policy and expediency.
1:11:39
Webster never goes behind government, and so cannot speak with authority about it.
1:11:45
His words are wisdom to those legislators who contemplate no essential reform in the
1:11:49
existing government, but for thinkers and those who legislate for all time. He
1:12:00
never once glances at the subject. I know of those whose serene and wise
1:12:05
speculations on this theme would soon reveal the limits of his mind's range and hospitality.
1:12:14
Yet, compared with the cheap professions of most reformers and the still cheaper
1:12:17
wisdom and eloquence of politicians in general, his are almost the only sensible,
1:12:26
in valuable words, and we thank Heaven for him. Comparatively, he is
1:12:31
always strong, original, and above all practical. Still, his quality is
1:12:38
not wisdom but prudence. The lawyer's truth is not truth but consistency, or
1:12:47
a consistent expediency. Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not
1:12:56
concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrongdoing. He well deserves
1:13:02
to be called, as he has been called, the defender of the Constitution.
1:13:08
There are really no blows to be given him but defensive ones. He
1:13:14
is not a leader but a follower. His leaders are the men of eighty
1:13:19
seven. I have never made an effort, he says, and never propose
1:13:25
to make an effort. I have never countenanced an effort, and never mean
1:13:30
to countenance an effort to disturb the arrangement as originally made by which various states
1:13:38
came into the Union. Still, thinking of the sanction which the Constitution gives
1:13:44
to slavery, he says, because it was part of the original compact,
1:13:50
let it stand. Notwithstanding his special acuteness and ability, he is unable to
1:13:58
take a fact out of its merely political relations and behold it as it lies
1:14:04
absolutely to be disposed of by the intellect. What what, for instance,
1:14:12
it behooves a man to do here in America today with regard to slavery?
1:14:18
But ventures or is driven to make some such desperate answer to the following,
1:14:26
while professing to speak absolutely and as a private man, from which what new
1:14:33
and singular of social duties might be inferred? The manner, says he,
1:14:41
in which the governments of the states where slavery exists are to regulate it is
1:14:45
for their own consideration, under the responsibility to their constituents, to the general
1:14:54
laws of proprietary humanity and justice, and to God. Associationations formed elsewhere,
1:15:01
springing from a feeling of humanity or any other cause, have nothing whatever to
1:15:08
do with it. They have never received any encouragement from Me, and they
1:15:13
never will. These extracts have been inserted since the lecture was read. H.
1:15:18
D. T. They who know of no purer sources of truth,
1:15:24
who have traced up its stream no higher stand and wisely stand by the Bible
1:15:30
and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humanity. But
1:15:36
they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird
1:15:43
up their loins once more and continue their pilgrimage towards its fountain head. No
1:15:49
man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in
1:15:57
the history of the world. There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men
1:16:04
by the thousand, but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak.
1:16:11
Who is capable of settling the much vexed questions of the day. We
1:16:16
love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which it may
1:16:21
utter, or any heroism it may inspire. Our legislators have not yet learned
1:16:30
the comparative value of free trade, and of freedom, of union, and
1:16:38
of rectitude to a nation. They have no genius or talent for comparatively humble
1:16:45
questions of taxation and finance, commerce and manufactures, and agriculture. If we
1:16:54
were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators and Congress for our guide,
1:17:00
uncorrected by the seasonable experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would
1:17:08
not long retain her rank among the nations for eighteen hundred years. Though perchance
1:17:16
I have no right to say it. The New Testament has been written.
1:17:24
Yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself
1:17:31
of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation, the authority of
1:17:40
government, even such as I am willing to submit to, for I will
1:17:45
cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I, and in many
1:17:50
things even those who neither know nor can do so well. Is still an
1:17:57
impure one. To be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent
1:18:04
of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property,
1:18:13
But what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute to a
1:18:20
limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward
1:18:27
a true respect for the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to
1:18:32
regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such
1:18:42
as we know it the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible
1:18:50
to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man. There
1:19:00
will never be a really free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize
1:19:08
the individual as a higher and independent power from which all its own power and
1:19:16
authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a
1:19:25
state at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to
1:19:31
treat the individual with respect as a neighbor, which even would not think it
1:19:40
inconsistent with its own repose, if a few were to live aloof from it,
1:19:45
not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the
1:19:50
duties of neighbors and fellow men. A state which bore this kind of fruit
1:19:59
and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the
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way for a still more perfect and glorious state, which I have also imagined,
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but not yet anywhere seen. End of On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
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by Henry David Thurrough