Katja's Literature Journals

Katja
ENGL 48A
Journal # 11, Thoreau
November 7, 2006


"Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government?" (1807)

Henry David Thoreau asks this question at the very end of his 1849 essay Resistance to Civil Government. Heeding his friend Emerson’s call for more forward thinking, Thoreau pivots the entire future of politics on the very point of this question. Doubtlessly it has generated much thought over the years and perhaps served as inspiration for great activists like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Let us begin by defining democracy. Merriam-Webster Online offers: 1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

Following the quote above, Thoreau calls for respect for the individual, in contrast to the more inclusive concept of democracy. This focus on the individual seems to me a very modern notion when taking into account the theories of Sigmund Freud that became important later in the 19th century. Clearly, Thoreau felt that democracy was not enough to create the type of equality he was looking for. In fact, earlier in the text he rejects the notion of majority rule—a standard democratic feature—and even calls for anarchy. A contemporary of Leo Tolstoy, Thoreau shared many of the same ideals of non-violent resistance and a desired absence of hierarchical political systems.

Thoreau’s question regarding the state and future of politics and equality are timeless and universal. No matter how great the strides we make are, we can still do better and there is always progress to be made. The quote cannot be seen as a statement of finality or disillusionment, but must be seen as an idea filled with potential.