Henry David Thoreau

     The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.
They are the standing army; and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most
cases there os no free exercise whatever of the judgement of the moral sense; but they put themselves
on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well.  Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt.They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs.  Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens.
 

This passage relates to the mass of people, who no matter the proffesion they seem to just follow
direction, even though it may be against their own moral principles.  A lot of his writings were based
on his Puritanical religious beliefs.  He feels that one should stand up for their beliefs.  He shows his
validity by not paying his taxes and going to jail. He alludes to the fact that the masses only listen to the leaders, even though they may be wrong. This passage suggest that tou must follow your own mind
and convictions.

     I chose this passage because his words have stood the test of time.  From his support of John Brown,   Who based on his writings may have taken it a too the extreme.In the words of Ganhdi,"I became
convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good"
No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting his idea across than Henry David
Thoreau, as a result of his writings and personal witness,  "We are heirs of a legacy of creative protest
Martin Luther King, Jr. " (autobiography)

                            Fugitive Slave Law  -  Militant Abolition

    These two topics relate to his writings where he alludes that people are machines, They don't use their own minds to do what is morally right.  John Brown's action although he may have known Thoreau, according to his writings on Civil Disobedience were very extreme, he did not advocate violence.  It gives back to writings on Civil Disobedience  where men follow the corrupt government
without any conscious.

           Anti- Slavery Activism - Plea for the Suppression of the Slave Trade

     Thoreau's writings call for activism.  Which is possibly why many learned people have used his writings to develop a platform.  Ganhdi, Martin Mc Carthy, to name a few.  His writings suggest that you should not let government tell you what to do, when the leaders have their own agenda, one should
follow their own mind.