...argues the inhumanity of free citizens who do not recognize the demands of conscience and justice. "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least...degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?" he asks rhetorically. "Why has every man a conscience, then?"7 It is precisely our willingness to accept...

...Henry David Thoreau who, in his celebrated essay on 'Civil Disobedience' asks: 'Must the citizen even for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?' and answers: I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate...

...negating justice and conscience in favor of expediency. The essay is also a staunch defense of self: "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least...that we should be men first, and subjects afterwards. . . . The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It...

...conscience? -- in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least...I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only...

...— in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least...I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.76 In government, might made right. This ability to employ physical force on the individual...

...refusing to pay taxes to support the Mexican War (1846-1848), a conflict that he considered unjust. Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least...I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. In the...