He asserts that the government itself becomes an obstacle between achieving its purpose, the purpose for which it was created. Thoreau gives examples of slavery practice and the Mexican-American war to establish his point further. It exists to ensure an individual’s freedom. According to Thoreau, it is in existence to execute citizens’ will. The government is chosen by people to achieve certain ends. He speaks favorably about a government that does not intrude in citizens’ lives. ► Thoreau opens his essay with a saying “That government is best which governs least,” which he believes to be true. It also condemns the Mexican-American war. The essay primary deals with slavery crisis in America in the 1840s and 1850s. The essay appears under titles On the Duty of Civil Disobedience and On Civil Disobedience as well. The essay was printed with a new title called Civil Disobedience. The essay was reprinted in 1866, four years after Thoreau’s death, in the collection of his work named A Yankee in Canada: With Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers.
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