Who wrote 'Civil Disobedience'?

• A. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• B. Mahatma Gandhi
• C. Henry David Thoreau
• D. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Answer: (C)

Henry David Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience, a short essay from 1849 that argues people should resist laws or policies they deem unjust through peaceful, principled disobedience. The idea rests on the belief that moral law can outrank government edicts and that citizens have a duty to oppose injustice even when it means facing personal consequences. Thoreau’s act of refusing to pay a poll tax to protest slavery and the Mexican-American War illustrates his point: government derives power from the consent of the governed, and conscience can guide political action. This work influenced later leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., who amplified the method of nonviolent resistance. Emerson, though a close contemporary and friend within the transcendentalist circle, did not author this essay; Rousseau wrote theoretical works like The Social Contract; Gandhi, while a practitioner of civil disobedience, did not author this piece.