On the Duty of Civil DisobedienceBy Henry David ThoreauResistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).The slavery crisis inflamed New England in the 1840s and 1850s. The environment became especially tense after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. A lifelong abolitionist, Thoreau delivered an impassioned speech which would later become Civil Disobedience in 1848, just months after leaving Walden Pond. The speech dealt with slavery, but at the same time excoriated American imperialism, particularly the Mexican-American War.

現代人に行動する勇気を与えてくれる、世界で最も影響力のあったエッセイ。国家の不正に対して、個人のとるべき道を示した本書は、ガンディー、キング牧師、マンデラらの市民運動に影響を与え、世界を変革した。北京で一匹の蝶が羽ばたくと、ニューヨークで嵐が起きる……ひとりが動けば、世界は変わる。この本には、「ソローの生涯の精神全体が要約されている」（ガンディー）。「悪しき体制に協力しないという考えに魅せられ、非常に強くこころを動かされた」（キング牧師）。