Thoreau’s disapproval of the governmentthe essay’s failure to stop slavery or the government’s desire to expand westwardthe idea of disobeying an unjust lawthe impact of Thoreau’s essay on the civil rights movement, including the bus boycott, Rosa Parks, the Greensboro sit-in, the Freedom Riders, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
In "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau championed the idea that if a government is not going to improve itself, then it is the duty of the people to refuse to support it. This paved the way for non-violent protests, such as those led by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
