Freedom and Equality

“When unjust laws exist, there are three choices: 1. Obey
them, 2. Obey them while working to change them, or 3. Transgress them
at once.” –David Henry Thoreau, Civil Disobedience. In Thoreau’s essay,
“Resistance to Civil Government,” he explains that he cannot support a
government that permits the existence of slavery. He states that it is
an individual’s conscience that must be followed and not a government
that is acting immorally. People have the absolute moral duty to not
support a government that they feel is acting in an unjust way, or
follow laws that are evil. The individual has an obligation to follow
his conscience and refuse to follow any law or policy set by a
government that allows injustices against its citizens. Civil
disobedience is a citizen’s right to act in opposition to an unjust
government. Instead citizens must be true to the higher moral laws,
because one must not do anything to support a wrong. The life of
Frederick Douglass, and his courage in refusing to obey unjust laws and
instead work for the end of slavery illustrates Thoreau’s ideals on
civil disobedience and an individual’s duty to end injustice. Thoreau
believed in the idea of having personal integrity, and living a life
based on this ideal was the only way to be a good person. He felt that
anytime you saw an injustice, you had to oppose it. Frederick Douglass
recognized the fact that as a human being he should be allowed to be
treated as having value and rights. Slaves were not accepted as being
truly human or equal to whites, and he found the courage to oppose this
injustice. In fact, Douglass understood how wrong slavery is at a young
age, “I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell his
birthday”(13). The inequality slaves are forced to live with makes
Douglass wish to be seen as a human being and not simply property. As
he says, “we were all ranked together at the evaluation. Men and women,
old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and
swine”(51). He longs for freedom and liberty and begins to rebel
against his master, an act of civil disobedience. He has a physical
fight with Mr. Covey, which, “rekindled the few expiring embers of
freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood”(79). He then
continues his resistance to slavery, he manages to escape and become a
free man. Frederick Douglass was willing to risk his life in order to
run away from slavery. To him, there was no question that the only way
to survive as a human being was to pursue freedom and attempt to find
some sort of equality, even if this meant breaking the laws that were
in existence at the time. He then led a crusade against slavery that
went beyond simply speaking out in moral disapproval about the
practice, but also taking part in activities to help bring about
change. He wrote about the reality of slavery so that people in the
North would understand what a horrible system it was. When his words
did not bring about the change he wanted, he took action, working with
Garrison on the newspaper, The Liberator. Just as Thoreau was willing
to go to jail rather than pay taxes to support a government he did not
believe in, Douglass was willing to break the law in order to run away
and be free. He then does all he can to make a better life and
encourage others to find the courage to fight for equality and liberty.
Frederick Douglass takes the ideas of civil disobedience and injustice
and turns them into action. He knowingly refuses to accept the laws he
is forced to live under because he knows they are unjust. He
understands that as a slave he does not have the power to change the
law, so he risks his life and escapes in an attempt for freedom. He is
willing to pay whatever price is necessary so that he does not have to
live under the injustice of slavery. As he says, “my long-crushed
spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I
know resolve that however long I might remain a slave in form the day
it pass forever when I can be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to
let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in
whipping, must also succeed in killing me”(113). Douglass was willing
to die for his cause of freedom and equality.