Thoreau's Civil Disobedience emphasizes the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws. It criticizes American social institutions and policies, mostly slavery and the Mexican American war. Thoreau begins his essay by arguing that government rarely proves itself useful and that it derives its power from the majority because they are the strongest group, and not because they hold the most legitimate viewpoint. He contends that people's first obligation is to do what …showed first 75 words of 247 total…

…showed last 75 words of 247 total…taxes and spent a night in jail. But, more generally, he ideologically dissociated himself from the government, "washing his hands" of it and refusing to participate in his institutions. According to Thoreau, this form of protest was preferable to advocating for reform from within government; he asserts that one cannot see government for what it is when one is working within it. Civil Disobedience covers several topics, and Thoreau intersperses poetry and social commentary throughout.