Emily Xu Fabian B Block Lang 3/16/24 Cage Match Should bills the government send out be obeyed? What happens if they affect the quality of lives of thousands of people? According to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president, people should obey laws even if they aren’t just, due to efficiency. Philosopher Henry David Thoreau’s take on law is that society has the moral obligation and duty to disobey morally unjust laws. Free slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass opted to follow laws for changes such as free speech, but to resist the immoral and unjust system. Society should disobey unjust laws and obey the just laws with sound morality to help improve people's lives. Likewise, Thoreau’s take on civil disobedience follows the idea of opposition to unjust law as a moral duty.
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American citizens must reach further beyond accepting the laws of the government. Thoreau states, “It has come to this, that the friends of liberty, the friends of the slave, have shuddered when they have understood that his fate was left to the legal tribunals of the country to be decided.” He argues that society has to take action against laws in order to be free from unjust laws. Douglass argues in support, “liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist,” and defines liberty as “to utter one's thoughts.” Thoreau and Douglass’ definition of liberty both are used in the relation to the legality of the government and free speech. An example of a situation where society disobeys a law by speaking out is the Idaho 2023 abortion care bill preventing adults from providing help to minors. The morality of disobeying the Idaho bill is that minors may need to receive abortion medication for their own health. The bill prevents the “friends of liberty”, which is society “to utter one’s
American citizens must reach further beyond accepting the laws of the government. Thoreau states, “It has come to this, that the friends of liberty, the friends of the slave, have shuddered when they have understood that his fate was left to the legal tribunals of the country to be decided.” He argues that society has to take action against laws in order to be free from unjust laws. Douglass argues in support, “liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist,” and defines liberty as “to utter one's thoughts.” Thoreau and Douglass’ definition of liberty both are used in the relation to the legality of the government and free speech. An example of a situation where society disobeys a law by speaking out is the Idaho 2023 abortion care bill preventing adults from providing help to minors. The morality of disobeying the Idaho bill is that minors may need to receive abortion medication for their own health. The bill prevents the “friends of liberty”, which is society “to utter one’s