Civil Disobedience

In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau aims to persuade as many of his fellow Americans as possible to join him in peaceful resistance against the American government. In the essay, he adopts a straightforward and commonsensical style that presents his occasionally radical beliefs in a familiar manner. The opening lines of the essay demonstrate this style: 

I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto,—“That government is best which governs least;” and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,—“That government is best which governs not at all;” and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. 

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