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Civil Disobedience In The Fight Against Slavery

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Our great nation, from its very founding, has been one of the greatest tests of mankind’s will and resolve in all of human history. This grand experiment has been that of democracy in a world that has been prone to giving up freedoms in the face of strong men who promise greatness. Throughout our history as a nation, our commitment to democracy has been tested again and again. War, strife, polarization, and depression have divided us as a nation and forced us to reckon with what it means to be American. In the face of these trying times, one of the greatest tools that is guaranteed to us by the constitution in order to uphold our democracy is the power of peaceful resistance and protest. Despite the risks that it brings, civil disobedience …show more content…
In the face of possible violent retaliation, these Americans took action when their government seemed paralyzed on how to deal with the issue. This practice of helping slaves escape their bondage would actually be a major point of conflict between the states leading up to the Civil War as many northern states refused to comply with southern requests to assist returning the slaves. Through this continued action, the South felt that there was no other way to solve the issue than to seek independence. The war that followed would nearly tear the country apart. However, it would be a necessary war in order to end the institution of slavery in the US forever. Had the original acts of civil disobedience never been carried out, the South could never have felt it necessary to secede; therefore, slavery might never have been …show more content…
Protests and other actions have been taken in the name of gay rights with the marriage equality movement, African American rights with the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental protection with the pipeline protests, and women’s rights with the massive women’s marches that have been taken as a result of the election of President Donald Trump. Each of these protests have captured the nation by storm and forced us as Americans to reckon with issues that we sometimes wish to hide from. Several of these actions, such as the pipeline protests, have brushed up with the law due to the location of the protests. By forcing us to take a look at these issues and discuss them with one another, we begin the long process of finding a solution to these problems, difficult as they might be. Furthermore, these protests also provide a clear visual for public opinion about a certain policy or politician. Therefore, they can understand that their decisions really do matter and make them think a little longer about the impact of a certain vote on the overall welfare of the

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