"Resistance to Civil Government" by Henry David Thoreau

Men will some day be able to have a government that does not govern at all. The only time the government is useful is when it is stepped aside. Thoreau writes,"I think we should be men first, and subjects afterward." I think what he meant by this was that, they should grow into becoming grown men first before they start anything else. Some legislators and politicians don't put moral sense first and the one's that do are known as the enemies. He says that a person does not have a duty to eliminate wrongs. He say, "If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting on another man's shoulders." This is based on, he don't want to put his dirty and wrong work on another man's shoulder, he would rather it be put on his shoulders.

Thoreau writes, "If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself." When he wrote this part, i think God probably got into him to think wisely about his decisions and how he would react to them and take the blame upon hisself. "A wise man will not leave justice to the chance of a majority vote." When this was said it was a good, he thought voting was something that was important to do really in others words to me, he was saying it was a waste of time because it wasn't actin as justice.