In this passage from “civil disobedience,” what can we infer? i heartily accept the motto, "that government is best which governs least"; and i should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also i believe- "that government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. thoreau thinks acting up to government is unwise and unpatriotic. thoreau thinks most people are not yet prepared for living without any government. thoreau understands the importance of a powerful government to keep people in line. thoreau would have preferred that the united states did not break away from great britain.

Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian, two of his greatest works are: "Resistance to Civil Government" (also known as "Civil Disobedience") and "The Mask of Anarchy". His ideals can be summarized by this statement: “the Government should not have more power than the bestowed by its citizens”.

Henry David Thoreau was even imprisoned for refusing to pay taxes in protest for the Mexican-American War and the slavery.

In this passage from “Civil Disobedience,” we can infer that:

Thoreau thinks most people are not yet prepared for living without any government.

here we have the evidence for the "...and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."

true

explanation:

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)