Alice put her foot down and demanded for equal rights. Women and leaders in the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association disliked the English suffragettes because they were too radical and violent, but Alice Paul was radical and nonviolent. Alice Paul would have her point across by organizing parades and giving her inspirational speeches. Alice Paul was peaceful, but wanted her rights right away.…
Disobedience is the foundation of America, without it there would be no improvements in society. Theodore Parker, an abolitionist in from the 1850s sent two former slaves overseas to England to keep them from being recaptured. Parker’s ultimate goal was to protect the slaves no matter the consequences of his disobedience to the law. Without pushing the norms of society nothing would advance. Because Parker stood up for what was morally right people began to join the movement to end slavery.…
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made- disobedience and rebellion.” These words spoken from Oscar Wilde explain what has happened over decades. Time and time again, people have gone against the law to do what was right. Not only did it make a small difference, it changed what the future would be like for everyone.…
Understating Alice Paul is an important part of understanding our history as women, and even men should understand the horrors these women experienced in their time. Alice Paul has not been completely forgotten by all means, but has been forgotten on a huge level. Very few people have learned about the struggles of Paul and her fellow suffragists. Paul is one of the lucky ones in my opinion, for there are hundreds of women’s names that we will never know. There are contributions that will forever be anonymous to the world.…
Susan B. Anthony once asked, "Are you going to cater to the whims and prejudices of people who have no intelligent knowledge of what they condemn?" While the answer is seemingly obvious, few individuals have dared to oppose established laws and stand up for their unorthodox beliefs. Raised in an era in which women lacked many basic rights and were considered inferior to men, Susan B. Anthony challenged America’s deeply ingrained social norms of male dominance and advocated for major reform. On November 5, 1872, she casted her ballot in the national election.…
Malcom X, an American Muslim Minister and rights activist, once said that “You are not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you cannot face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.” He is speaking of a term called civil disobedience, the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of the government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is used by influential “rebels” all over the world and throughout history. Many people have different opinions on whether civil disobedience is important or not.…
Disobedience has and always will be necessary for changes throughout society. It is a valuable human trait that promotes social progress and many examples can be found throughout history that made a huge impact or change in the way the world is today. Important social changes can only be made through acts of disobedience to promote progress. A well known, famous, and historical example of disobedience comes from Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement in the once British-ruled India. Ghandi’s defiance of British laws over the empires salt monopoly sparked a wave of civil disobedience that contributed to expelling the British empire.…
After her degrees, she spent time in London where she learned radical and “unladylike” tactics to draw attention from a woman suffragist by the name of Emmeline Pankhurst. She returned to the United States in 1910 and began to implement these tactics within the fight for women’s suffrage. Alice Paul’s party, the National Women’s party, of which she was the leader, continued their public protests even during World War I. These non-war related protests were considered unpatriotic and many women present at these protests were arrested and placed in jail. Some women who were particularly influential in this party, such as Paul, were placed in solitary confinement so that they were not allowed communication with others.…
Thoreau and His Motives Henry David Thoreau is a tremendously complex man to understand. Thoreau was a Harvard graduate and an abolitionist. This man wrote “Civil Disobedience” and had many reasons for doing so.…
In his book "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story", Martin Luther King Jr. states it best: "Nonviolent resistance was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their quest for social justice.(1)" Time and time again, throughout history, this has been proven true; civil disobedience can positively alter our nation's policies and sociological behavior. Not only do nonviolent protesting acts change certain legislation, like when the Court ruled 2-1 that the city’s bus segregation laws were in violation of the Constitution due to copious seat-refusals that were taking place in Montgomery(2), they also open the public's eye on important social/economic issues. For example, in more recent events, there was a controversy…
The suffragettes used a form of indirect civil disobedience. Their main tactic was not to vote where it was not permitted, but rather to protest and picket and get arrested for it. This was effective, but differed from the civil disobedience practiced during the civil rights movement. Arguably the most famous example of peaceful resistance to a law in American history was when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested and briefly imprisoned, but she was extremely significant in the strength of a movement that revived the disoriented spirit of American freedom.…
A central conflict in human society is a divide between obedience and autonomy. People are by nature, herd animals, with a need for the security of knowing their place in the world. In Erich Fromm’s essay, “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem,” states that by being obedient, we gain a measure of the power that we worship, be it the Church or the State or a charismatic leader, and we become strong. We become righteous. It frees us of thought and of the accusation of wrong-doing (Fromm 4).…
The United States was built on disobedience, although the Revolutionary War was anything but peaceful, it created a foundation that the founding fathers took into consideration when writing the US Constitution. The colonists saw and disapproved of the unfair treatment they were receiving from the British government and decided to stand against it, for the sake of a new and improved colony--but violence is not always the most practical or efficient way to ask for change. The first constitutional amendment established freedom of speech for the American people to use instead of revolting and rioting every time something controversial or unjust is revealed. During the Civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of various peaceful protests to stop the unfair treatment of the…
Civil disobedience has been a part of the American culture since its very start. If it were not for the early settlers’ refusal to pay high taxes, and their demonstration of their frustration through the Boston Tea Party, the United States would not be the strong, independent nation it is today. Since our country’s establishment, civil disobedience has evolved to become an important form of protest. It is beyond the simple violation of the law--it is a demonstration of one’s principles that can positively impact the society.…
When the Rules Are Broken, History is Made It's hard to condense the last 300 years into a single book. In school, students learn about the past and how certain events have shaped the present. When reading a history book all of the important parts have to do with conflict of some kind; one side disagreed with another, one side was disobedient in one way or another. The books don't highlight the parts of the past that were peaceful and uneventful; they concentrate on wars, civil movements, conflict, and people breaking the rules.…