Should all laws passed by the government be obeyed by its citizens? For Henry David Thoreau, citizens should not blindly obey all the laws passed by the lawmakers. There are certain laws which may be disobeyed by the public. Thoreau called these laws as unjust laws.
Unjust laws are laws that violate basic and inherent rights of the people. These laws trample upon the same rights that the government has sworn to protect and uphold. Unjust laws are an anathema to a democratic society primarily because they are passed by the same institution that should protect and recognize the rights of the people. These laws violate the right to due process of law, equal protection of the law, and other basic and inherent human rights.
Thoreau said that the United States government has passed laws in the past which are unjust and immoral. Some of these laws are those that were passed before the Civil War – laws allowing and perpetuating the slavery of colored individuals, laws prohibited the marriage of colored individuals and white, laws that denied colored individuals the right to vote and citizenship. According to Thoreau -Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded or shall we transgress them at once.-
Unjust laws will continue to exist in the future. Based on the basic principles of a democracy which upholds that maxim that the majority is always right the government is bound to pass unjust laws in the future. So long as certain groups of individuals have the numbers in government, they can have their way in the government and pass unjust laws. It should be stressed, however, that the majority is not always right. While there is strength in numbers it is possible that they could be wrong about the passage of some legislations.
Thoreau believes that citizens should not be forced to obey an unjust law. In fact, Thoreau believes that citizens have the moral obligation to fight an unjust law. The citizens should not wait for the time to come when the law is rendered unconstitutional. It takes time to do so. Thoreau believes that the public should take a stand. When he was asked to pay the taxes which he considered was unjustly imposed, he disobeyed the government and refused to pay the taxes. He advocated civil disobedience as a means to fight an unjust law.
Thoreau warned that there are consequences for civil disobedience. The government will not hesitate imposing punishment on individuals who disobey the law. However, Thoreau believes that this is the only way to fight an unjust law.
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