A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs
by its whole weight. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. — “Civil Disobedience,”
Henry David Thoreau
According to Thoreau, how can a minority exercise power?
by following the laws that the majority agree upon
by engaging in violent conflict when necessary
by protesting as a group in a nonviolent way
