The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail

"If the law is of such nature that it requires you to be an agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law." In 1849, the young Henry David Thoreau, philosopher, poet, naturalist, penned these timeless words in his Civil Disobedience. Three years earlier Thoreau had refused to pay taxes to the government, which was engaged in the Mexican War. He condemned the war as unjust--a war never formally declared, begun without Congressional authorization, a savage and bloody war fought to assuage the United States' territorial ambitions. For his courageous and unprecedented act of protest, he was thrown in jail. Thoreau was a man of the future. Over the past century, his action has had worldwide repercussions. Tolstoy was influenced by his stand, and Gandhi based his passive resistance campaign on the words of the philosopher of Walden Pond. Now, Thoreau's action take on a new relevance. The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail is an essential work for today's world.