In his essay Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau wrote that people have the right to protest and reject 'unjust' laws that are made by governments if it destroys or hurts the rights of men. This essay sparked a huge outrage due to its support of the citizen's overrule of a government if they find it unjust or unfair for the whole people.
In his statement <em>"the standing army is only an arm of the standing government"</em>, Thoreau meant to say that the army is just one part of the government. They are like an arm, a part of the whole institution of the government which in itself is not a separate entity. It is just a part of the government like the arm is part of the human body.
