(born July 12, 1817, Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.—died May 6, 1862, Concord)

Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher.

He is renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism (as recorded in his masterwork, Walden – 1854).

He was a vigorous advocate of civil liberties, (as evidenced in the essay “Civil Disobedience” – 1849).

On an evening in July 1846 he encountered Sam Staples, the constable and tax gatherer.

Staples asked him amiably to pay his poll tax, which Thoreau had omitted paying for several years.

He declined, and Staples locked him up. The next morning a lady, perhaps his aunt, Maria, paid the tax.

Thoreau reluctantly emerged, did an errand, and then went blackberrying. A single night in the jail was enough to make his point that he could not support a government that endorsed slavery and waged an imperialist war against Mexico.

His defense of the individual conscience against the majority was expressed in his essay, “Civil Disobedience.” It was published in May 1849 as “Resistance to Civil Government.”

The essay received little attention until the 20th century, when it found an eager audience.

To many, its message still sounds timely: there is a higher law than the civil one, and the higher law must be followed even if a penalty ensues.

So does its consequence: “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”