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Audiobook edition · 1 h 3 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What do you owe a government when obeying it means lending your support to injustice?
In On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau puts conscience before obedience. His refusal to pay a tax brings him to the Concord jail. Behind that refusal stand slavery and the war against Mexico. He asks what one person should do when the state demands support for actions that person knows are wrong.
Thoreau treats government as a tool, not a moral authority. He challenges the idea that a majority must be right simply because it has the strength to rule. His argument moves from what you believe to what you do with your hands, your money, and your name. Holding the right opinion, he insists, is not enough.
What you’ll discover
- Conscience before obedience Consider where your duty to the state ends and your responsibility to yourself begins.
- The limits of majority rule Follow Thoreau as he separates the power to govern from the claim to be right.
- More than an opinion Face his demand that opposition to injustice must reach beyond private beliefs.
- A night in jail See how refusing a tax gives his argument a concrete, personal cost.
- Government under scrutiny Explore his distrust of a state served by people who set their judgment aside.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy brief, forceful arguments about conscience, protest and citizenship will love this essay. It also suits those curious about the roots of peaceful resistance.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Government is only a tool people use
- Conscience should outrank the majority vote
- Most people serve the State like machines
- Voting and good wishes do not end injustice
- Break the law that makes you its agent
- A night in jail shows the State's weakness
- A better State would respect the individual
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Über die Pflicht zum zivilen Ungehorsam
by Henry David Thoreau · 1849
A man spends one night in a Concord jail over an unpaid tax and comes out sure the State is the weaker party.
ChallengingUnder 2 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
What do you owe a government that does wrong in your name? Henry David Thoreau asks that question in On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, and he answers it from his own life.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Government is only a tool people use
Thoreau opens with an old motto, that the best government is the one that governs least. He pushes it further and says the best government is the one that governs not at all. People will have that kind of government when they are ready for it. Until then, government is a tool, and most governments are a poor tool most of the time.
He gives his reasons plainly. Government has never helped an undertaking except by stepping aside. It does not preserve the country's liberty. It does not settle the West. It does not educate anyone. The character of the American people has done all of that.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1849
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 35 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Thoreau, Henry David. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/on-the-duty-of-civil-disobedience.
Thoreau, H. D. (2026). On the duty of civil disobedience. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/on-the-duty-of-civil-disobedience (Original work published 1849)
Thoreau, Henry David. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/on-the-duty-of-civil-disobedience.
@book{thoreau2026duty,
author = {Thoreau, Henry David},
title = {On the Duty of Civil Disobedience},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/on-the-duty-of-civil-disobedience},
note = {First published 1849}
}
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What is On the Duty of Civil Disobedience about?
It argues that individuals must follow conscience over law when a government supports injustice. Thoreau uses slavery, the war with Mexico, his refusal to pay a tax and his night in jail to show how a citizen can refuse to take part.
What did Thoreau mean by civil disobedience?
He means openly refusing to obey a law or duty that makes you an agent of injustice, and accepting the penalty. In the essay his main act is refusing a poll tax, and he calls this a peaceful revolution.
Why did Thoreau go to jail?
He had paid no poll tax for six years, in protest against slavery and the war with Mexico. He was put in the Concord jail for one night, and someone else paid the tax so he could leave the next morning.
The author
Henry David Thoreau
1817–1862 · American essayist, poet and philosopher
Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1817 and died there in 1862. He lived beside Walden Pond from 1845 to 1847. His writings include Civil Disobedience (1849), Walden (1854), Walking (1862), and Cape Cod (1865), published after his death.
More by Henry David Thoreau
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