Further Readings
Holmes, S. Benjamin Constant and the Making of Modern Liberal-
ism.New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984.
Machiavelli, N. The Discourses,B. Crick, ed. Harmondsworth,
Eng.: Penguin Books, 1970.
Marshall, T. H. “Citizenship and social class.” In Sociology at the
Crossroads, and Other Essays.London: Heinemann, 1963.
Pocock, J. G. A. Virtue, Commerce and History.Cambridge, Eng.:
Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Rousseau, J. J. The Social Contract,M. Cranston, transl. Har-
mondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1968.
civil disobedience
The disobeying or breaking of a law for moral, reli-
gious, or other reasons, either by an individual or an
organized group. Examples of civil disobedience
include refusing to pay taxes, blocking roads or gov-
ernment offices, striking or refusing to work in the
offending government, and marching in demonstra-
tions without state permission. The act may be
designed to pressure the government to change laws
or policies or just to voice opposition and present a
“moral witness.” Civil disobedience became popular
in the United States in the 1960s to protest the Viet-
nam War, racial discrimination, and environmental
policy.
A leading writer on civil disobedience was Ameri-
can Henry David THOREAUwho coined the term in an
essay (“Civil Disobedience”) in 1848. Thoreau
explained that he broke the law by not paying taxes to
the state of Massachusetts to protest the U.S. policy in
the Mexican War and the institution of slavery in the
South. The failure to protest unjust state laws was
effectively contributing to that injustice, in Thoreau’s
view. He saw civil disobedience as a matter of individ-
ual conscience and actually spent time in jail as a con-
sequence.
A leading activist in 20th-century civil disobedi-
ence was Mohandas GANDHIin India. Resisting what he
saw as unjust British colonial policy, Gandhi organized
marches, sit-ins, and hunger strikes. He insisted on the
nonviolent quality of civil disobedience, always
accepting abuse without returning it. Passive resist-
ance became a part of Gandhi’s highly successful civil
disobedience in India against the British. He insisted
that his nonviolent approach to reforming public pol-
icy involved basic respect for law and the social sys-
tem.
This nonviolent approach to civil disobedience was
adopted in the CIVIL RIGHTSmovement in the United
States in the 1950s and 1960s, especially by black
leader Martin Luther KING, Jr., who used marches, boy-
cotts, and demonstrations in an attempt to achieve
racial justice in the United States. He, like Gandhi,
shamed his opponents by using peaceful means of
protest, while they responded with police clubs and
attack dogs. Organized civil disobedience, then, won
social sympathy for the civil rights cause.
The philosophical origin of civil disobedience to
state laws goes back to CHRISTIANconceptions of God’s
“higher law,” which the faithful must obey even if
means breaking civil law. The early Christian refusal to
worship Roman rulers led many to be jailed or exe-
cuted. St. AUGUSTINEsays that at times the church
should advise believers to disobey the state when it
violates God’s law. Suffering the consequences of gov-
ernment persecution, personal martyrdom is better
than disgracing Christ and possibly being sent to Hell60 civil disobedience
Civil rights march on Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963.
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