Civil Disobedience

Is there a limit to Thoreau’s arguments? Logically, if everyone lived a purely individualistic life, what would happen to society? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

What acts of passive resistance have you witnessed in your life? Did they work? If not, what do you think are the best ways to effect change in your community and end injustice in the government?

Thoreau’s argument concerns the injustice of the Mexican-American War and slavery. While few would argue that slavery is ever justified, what might Thoreau say about the US Civil War, a war largely fought to abolish slavery? Is such a war justified? Does it limit the power of his argument that a war, and not passive resistance, led to the elimination of slavery?