Sample Student Research Project 2013
Journal
LITR
4232 American Renaissance
Sample Student Research Project 2013
Journal
Amanda Duarte
November 22, 2013
Civil Disobedience: 1849-2013
Introduction:
Typically I write and research subjects that are based on what is going on with
my life because I can get passionate about the work to make it more significant
not only for myself but for the readers as well. I contemplated on my subject
matter and kept switching focus from one topic to the next because I did there
were too many directions that I could take this research. I like for my research
and work to have some significance to my life, this is my way of taking the
information I gather so that I can make it memorable. I don’t want to know a lot
of useless information; which is why the topic I finally chose to research stuck
out the most. There have been several topics on my mind that I couldn’t quite
connect. First off I wanted to research something along the lines of slavery and
human trafficking since we talked in class, on a few occasions, about how people
should go about discussing these topics in a classroom setting or to other
individuals or groups in general. I did a little searching and could find
nothing on how to talk about or approach the topic.
So then I happened to come across Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,”
and a light went off. Although the two subjects may not seem to have a thing in
common, I realized that there are times when in order for something unjust to be
brought to justice in society, civil disobedience has been known to be
effective. Slavery and human trafficking are not right but there were people who
acted out civil disobedience to bring justice for the slaves and rights for the
free blacks, and in more modern days protests have been popular in achieving
Lately, I have come across many instances of unjust actions taking place where
the justice system in place fails to bring true justice. This journal will
discuss general information about civil disobedience, a biography of Henry David
Thoreau, a review of two articles: “Thoreau’s Radical Moment—and Ours” by Wen
Stephenson, and “Thoreau’s Case for Political Disengagement” by Carl Bankston
III, a few helpful links to websites that could be helpful in the search for
information on civil disobedience, as well as a few pictures pertaining to the
topic.
Civil Disobedience: General Information
Civil disobedience is
a symbolic, non-violent violation of the law, done
deliberately in protest against some form of perceived injustice. Mere dissent,
protest, or disobedience of the law does not qualify. The act must be
nonviolent, open and visible, illegal, performed for the moral purpose of
protesting an injustice, and done with the expectation of being punished
(thefreedictionary.com).
And according to Dr. White’s notes,
Civil disobedience
describes a persistent human activity that can go
by many names and be practiced in numerous ways. In a review of Lewis Perry’s
Civil Disobedience: An American Tradition,
civil
disobedience
has “famously been invoked to oppose war and slavery, to support temperance,
voting rights and labor reform, and to protest taxes, nuclear power, abortion
and various environmental abuses” (Kirkus Reviews). Perry’s book discusses the
history of civil disobedience from its origins to the more recent keystone
pipeline opposition, in chronological order. Throughout history there have been
a number of historical figures who have been associated with civil disobedience.
These figures include Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi,
Rosa Parks, and even Jesus of Nazareth.
There are risks and advantages to resisting higher laws, though. Each of the
people listed above did pay a price for their disobedience, but the outcome was
rewarding more often than not. There is a risk of not seeing results immediately
when acting out civil disobedience; which then, people who back the ideas may
turn to violence (Dr. White’s Notes). In the United States there are many people
or common folk who act out and practice civil disobedience. In his time, Thoreau
protested and was arrested for something he felt was unjust. In his essay “Civil
Disobedience,” Thoreau says that people should not wait for the government to
act against and put in reformation of injustice. If an individual has what is
just on their side then that individual should do what is just in a peaceful and
open manor.
Herbert Storing predicted that civil disobedience would die out after Martin
Luther King Jr.’s assassination but has since been proved wrong. Civil
disobedience continues to be an active part of liberal democracies. Even though
there have been many historical figures who have acted out in civil
disobedience, there are still examples of people who take this sort of action to
this day. An example of civil disobedience in modern day would be worker
slowdowns. On November 8, 2013 there was an outbreak of civil disobedience in
downtown Los Angeles. Fifty Wal-Mart employees and supporters were arrested in
the street protesting what they called the retailer’s “poverty wages.” During
this act of civil disobedience over five hundred protesters gathered in the
streets to protest “an end to low wages, unpredictable part-time hours and
retaliation for speaking out,” according to Huffington Post. This is only one of
the many outbreaks that have occurred in the country for similar demands against
the company.
Biography: Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817 to his
parents John and Cynthia. John moved the family from Concord to Chelmsford and
Boston due to business opportunities but then moved back to Concord in 1823 to
establish a pencil making business. Thoreau had two older siblings, Helen and
John Jr., both siblings grew up to be schoolteachers and helped pay for Henry
Thoreau’s college expenses with their salary. After he graduated college Thoreau
began teaching at the district school in Concord, then at a school he and his
brother opened, it closed in 1841. He was offered boarding at the Emerson’s
family home where he was to earn his keep as a handyman; while there he
concentrated on his writing. Thoreau soon realized that he his writing was not
making him enough money so for a steady income, he relied on the family pencil
business and he became a surveyor. He invented a machine that resulted in a
pencil that wrote with a smooth line. With his improvements the pencils were now
equal quality to those being made by the German company, Faber. The company
shifted from pencil making to supply finely ground plumbago to printing
companies. He continued to run the company after his father died in 1859. Like
the writer he was, Thoreau continued his writing using business documents as
scrap paper to his unfinished works. In 1847 as part of a response to a request
from the secretary of his Harvard class, Thoreau described his many jobs as “a
Schoolmaster—a Private Tutor, a Surveyor—a gardener, a farmer—a painter [house
painter], a carpenter, a mason, a day-laborer, a pencil maker, a glass-paper
maker, a writer, and sometimes a poetaster” (http://thoreau.library.ucsb.edu/thoreau_life.html).
Thoreau built a small house on the shores of Walden Pond in 1845 where he lived
alone for two years. In 1847 he abandoned that home and refused to pay the town
tax and the consequence was jail time. Thoreau wrote non-fiction books, essays,
and poetry totaling over twenty volumes. Some of these works include
Walden,
A Week,
The Maine Wods,
Cape Cod, and the essays
A Winter Walk,
A Walk to Wachusett,
A Yankee in Canada, and
Civil Disobedience.
Thoreau began to suffer from tuberculosis in 1835 and suffered from it from time
to time for years after. In 1859 he developed bronchitis and his health steadily
declined after that. He spent his last few years revising and editing some of
his work then died on May 6, 1862 at age 44.
Article Reviews
1. “Thoreau’s Radical Moment—And Ours” by Wen Stephenson
Wen Stephenson’s “Thoreau’s Radical Moment – And Ours” is a story covering the
construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and comparing the acts of civil
disobedience that have taken place in protest against building it to Henry David
Thoreau’s “readiness to speak the truth, forcefully and without compromise…no
matter what risks it might have entailed.” Even though protests do not always
prove effective, activists continue to express their principles. The article
begins with information about Keystone and quickly makes a connection to
Thoreau’s principle.
Keystone is a pipeline built by TransCanada Corporation, which will transport
crude oil from the Alberta tar sands through the United States to the Gulf
Coast. The problem with this pipeline is that the Alberta tar sands is one of
the largest carbon pools on the planet and moving so much crude oil from there
would emit more carbon into the atmosphere than what humans can live in.
Stephenson brings forth how radical Thoreau was and his purpose behind his
actions and reflects on how the climate activists have followed Thoreau’s
footsteps in participating in nonviolent law breaking to make a change in an act
that benefits a large group of people.
Today we face a human crisis as extreme in its way as the one faced by
Thoreau…it sounds crazy. But just as Thoreau and other radical abolitionists
were willing to say and do “crazy” and “radical” things—like put their bodies in
the way of coal shipments…not because it’s politically expedient, but because
it’s morally imperative.
Stephenson says that Thoreau may have never imagined that other activists would
turn resistance into intolerable injustice demonstrating the power of radical
nonviolence but it is necessary in making imperative changes for the benefit of
the people.
Although this article is bias in favor of climate activists, it is a wonderful
example of how activists throughout history have advocated for the people by
participating in civil disobedience. The article gives an accurate history of
Thoreau and other historical figures that have used his principle to make a
change. He connects today’s climate activists with other activists throughout
history who have made a difference using Thoreau’s principle.
2. “Thoreau’s Case for Political Disengagement” by Carl L. Bankston III
Bankston begins his article by clarifying what Thoreau’s point of the essay.
Bankston says the essay “was a call for the autonomy of the individual from
civic entanglements.” He then begins to break the essay down giving the reader
Thoreau’s arguments and attitude toward the state calling him a “philosophical
anarchist” who “maintains that government is only an instrument through which
people act and that it should leave people alone as much as possible.” Bankston
reminds the reader that Thoreau was against the government because of its war
with Mexico and its acceptance to the existence of slavery in the south.
Thoreau’s argument in “Civil Disobedience” is not that people should be against
the government but should use insubordination as “an act of moral Disengagement
from politics.”
Later in the article, Bankston points out that in today’s time, Thoreau would
have been wrong in many ways. As time passed, the United States moved further
away from Thoreau’s idea of the independent individual. One approach he goes
into is of understanding Civil Disobedience
as one expression of individualism. Bankston’s argument is that Thoreau “has
little in common with the modern social justice advocates who claim him as an
intellectual ancestor.” He does not completely disagree with Thoreau, but finds
some ways to apply his principles to fit problems that occur in present day. He
does, however clarify that the essay is not a call to activism but a “manifesto
of political and social strengths and weaknesses of that trend in American
thought.” The essay is more a reminder to the American people that our purpose
is not to build the perfect world, but to live according to our moral senses.
Bankston’s article doesn’t seem to have a bias; his argument is that the readers
should look at Civil Disobedience
not as an active literary piece but to read and think critically, asking
questions and arguing it to make it work for what the current issues are.
“Thoreau’s Case for Political Disengagement” could be applied to spark
discussion about a new way of thinking and applying Thoreau’s ideas/principles.
WEBSITES
1.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/#PunCivDis
This webpage consists of four main sections providing explanation about civil
disobedience: definitions, justification, rights, and punishment. This site is
informative and useful to someone seeking detailed information on civil
disobedience.
2.
http://thoreau.library.ucsb.edu/thoreau_life.html
This is a website that has information that is all about Thoreau. The site
provides texts of his writings for publication, his journal, his correspondence,
and other uncollected papers. Most of the material has never been published
before. This site would be helpful to anyone seeking information on Thoreau as
well as his works.
3. http://www.taterenner.com/nokxl.php
This webpage consists of images from the Keystone XL Rally and March, as well as
a link to an organization called 350. The organization has been building a
global grassroots movement to solve the climate change crisis. On 350.org, there
are multiple articles showcasing acts of civil disobedience in present day. If
someone were looking for examples of insubordination in present day, they would
hit the jackpot at
www.350.org.
Conclusion
My research began as a blur. I wanted to find a topic that I would get
passionate about; something that I could find meaning in, or find a new way of
thinking about the literary work. After much contemplation I found my topic,
civil disobedience then and now. After researching information about Thoreau I
was able to understand more of where critics were coming from when they analyzed
his ideas and principles. Though there are many versions of Thoreau’s biography
I found it most beneficial to gather information from multiple sources to write
my unique version of his life story. I found it interesting that Thoreau knew he
was dying and was able to revise and edit some of his work before his death. All
sorts of activists throughout history have used Thoreau’s essay, “Civil
Disobedience” as a basis for their political insubordination. In my research I
found a book that talks about civil disobedience through history from Thoreau’s
time up to 2013. I also included recent outbursts of civil disobedience.
The articles I found correspond with each other one seems to be bias toward acts
of political insubordination while the other gives each side credit where it is
due. Wen Stephenson’s article is biased in that he used Thoreau’s essay to
justify that civil disobedience is right in the climate activist’s protest
against Keystone. He provided accurate information about political
insubordination as well as the essay Civil
Disobedience. However, he failed to give some sort
of credit to the other half. Carl Bankston III also provided his readers with
adequate information about Thoreau’s work. He, unlike Stephenson, gave proper
justification for his argument, discussing both sides.
In addition to all of this I have provided links to websites that I found
helpful throughout my research as well as pictures that may aid others in
understanding more about civil disobedience throughout history.
Bibliography
Description of Civil disobedience from:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Civil+Disobedience
"CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE An American Tradition."
Kirkus Reviews 81.20 (2013):
97. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/08/walmart-arrests_n_4227411.htm
"Great Star" flag of pre-Civil War USA