- 01Government as an Expedient Institution
- 02The Critique of Standing Government and Standing Armies
- 03Government as Obstruction to Human Enterprise
- 04The Call for a Better Government
- 01Majority Rule and Physical Strength
- 02The Primacy of Conscience Over Legislation
- 03Respect for Right Versus Respect for Law
- 04The Moral Limits of Civic Obedience
- 01Men First, Subjects Afterward
- 02The State’s Use of Men as Machines
- 03Conscientious Service and Resistance
- 04The Wise Man’s Refusal to Be an Instrument
Civil Disobedience
Conscience and resistance to unjust government.
6Chapters
21Lessons
84Topics
Certificate of completion included
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Explain the relationship between conscience, law, and moral duty
- Analyze Thoreau’s critique of government, voting, and noncooperation
- Evaluate the ethical arguments for resisting war, slavery, and injustice
- Describe the role of tax resistance and imprisonment in civil disobedience
- Interpret the idea of a higher law beyond constitutional authority
- Assess the personal and political costs of principled refusal
Curriculum
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 6
- Lessons
- 21
- Topics
- 84
- 01Refusal to Recognize a Slaveholding Government
- 02The Right of Revolution Against Tyranny
- 03The Mexican War as Organized Oppression
- 04Slavery as an Unendurable Wrong
- 01Paley’s Doctrine of Submission
- 02Justice Beyond Public Convenience
- 03Restoring the Plank to the Drowning Man
- 04Doing Justice at Any Cost
- 01Massachusetts Merchants and Farmers as Enablers
- 02Passive Opposition to Slavery and War
- 03The Failure of Petitions and Regret
- 04The Price of an Honest Man and Patriot
- 01Voting as a Form of Gaming
- 02The Weak Moral Force of Majority Decisions
- 03The Vote as a Feeble Expression of Desire
- 04A Wise Man’s Refusal to Leave Right to Chance
- 01Distrust of Party Conventions
- 02The Respectable Man’s Drift Toward Available Candidates
- 03The Need for Men with Backbones
- 04The Decline of American Self-Reliance
- 01Refusing Practical Support for Wrong
- 02Not Sitting on Another Man’s Shoulders
- 03The Inconsistency of Supporting Unjust Government
- 04Action from Principle as Revolutionary
- 01Unjust Laws and Immediate Resistance
- 02The Machine of Government and Counterfriction
- 03Refusing to Be the Agent of Injustice
- 04The State’s Failure to Provide a Just Remedy
- 01Abolitionists and the Duty to Withdraw Support
- 02Denying the State at the Tax-Gatherer’s Door
- 03The Tax-Gatherer as a Neighbor and Officer
- 04One Honest Man and the Abolition of Slavery
- 01The Prison as the Free Man’s Place
- 02The Minority That Clogs the Machine
- 03Peaceable Revolution Through Tax Resistance
- 04Resignation of Office as Political Breakthrough
- 01Imprisonment Versus Seizure of Goods
- 02Wealth as a Barrier to Virtue
- 03Render unto Caesar and the Problem of Tribute
- 04Living Honestly Without Reliance on the State
- 01Refusing the Church Tax
- 02The Written Withdrawal from Incorporated Society
- 03Six Years Without Paying the Poll Tax
- 04The State’s Misreading of the Dissenter
- 01The Night in Prison
- 02The Roommate Accused of Burning a Barn
- 03Jail Gossip, Tracts, and Escape Attempts
- 04Concord as a Medieval Townscape
- 01Returning to the Shoemaker and the Huckleberry Party
- 02The Whole History of My Prisons
- 03The State Nowhere to Be Seen
- 04The Prison as a Revelation of Society
- 01Refusing Allegiance Rather Than a Particular Tax Item
- 02Declaring War with the State in One’s Own Way
- 03The Problem of Private Sympathy Versus Public Good
- 04Guarding Against Obstinacy and Pride
- 01Millions of Men as Human, Not Brute, Force
- 02Appeal from Men to the Maker of Men
- 03The Difference Between Human and Natural Necessity
- 04The Possibility of Effective Resistance
- 01Living Only Briefly Under Government
- 02Thought-Free Independence from Rulers
- 03The Limits of Statesmen and Legislators
- 04Prudence Versus Wisdom in Public Life
- 01The Bible and the Constitution as Lower Sources
- 02Pilgrimage Toward the Fountain-Head of Truth
- 03The Absence of a Genius for Legislation
- 04The Need for Practical Wisdom in Lawmaking
- 01Government by Consent of the Governed
- 02The Individual as a Higher Power
- 03A State Just to All Men
- 04The Vision of a More Perfect State
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