The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (Vintage 1972 Edition)

If the law is of such nature that it  requires you to be an agent of injustice to another,  then I say, break the law.” In 1849, the young  Henry David Thoreau, philosopher, poet,  naturalist, penned these timeless words in his  Civil Disobedience. Three years earlier  Thoreau had refused to pay taxes to the government,  which was engaged in the Mexican War. He condemned  the war as unjust–a war never formally declared,  begun without Congressional authorization, a  savage and bloody war fought to assuage the United  States’ territorial ambitions. For his courageous and  unprecedented act of protest, he was thrown in  jail. Thoreau was a man of the future. Over the  past century, his action has had worldwide  repercussions. Tolstoy was influenced by his stand, and  Gandhi based his passive resistance campaign on the  words of the philosopher of Walden Pond. Now,  Thoreau’s action take on a new relevance. The  Night Thoreau Spent In Jail is an  essential work for today’s  world.