On View
Not on viewAesthetic Papers
Artist
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody
1804 - 1894
Date1849
Terms
- Books
- Ink
- Fabric
- Paper
- Boston
- New York
Dimensions22.84 × 15.23 × 1.27 cm (9 × 6 × 1/2 in.)
Object numberB2015.2
DescriptionLetterpress on paper; cloth binding. Edited by Elizabeth P. Peabody (see maker info). Includes work by Henry D. Thoreau: "Resistance to Civil Government," later titled, "Civil Disobedience." Contributions also from Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Published in Boston by the the Editor, 13 West Street. In New York by G.P. Putnam, 156 Broadway.
Thoreau's most influential essay was, like his book "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers," drafted at Walden. Originally a lecture titled, "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in Relation to Government," it was first delivered at the Concord Lyceum in January, 1848. It was later titled "Resistance to Civil Government" when first published in this, the only edition of Elizabeth Peabody's periodical, "Aesthetic Papers," and was subsequently published as "Civil Disobedience."
"Civil Disobedience" is an essay on the ethical conduct of life. In this essay (as later when writing about John Brown), Thoreau's grief at the unrealized potential of democracy and his certainty of the absolute moral authority of the individual are given unbridled expression. This influential essay articulates the dilemma of the just individual who, as a member of society, owes obedience to a government that behaves unjustly. Thoreau targeted the U.S. war with Mexico, a war that Thoreau saw as being waged for no moral purpose, but to support the institution of slavery.
Thoreau's most influential essay was, like his book "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers," drafted at Walden. Originally a lecture titled, "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in Relation to Government," it was first delivered at the Concord Lyceum in January, 1848. It was later titled "Resistance to Civil Government" when first published in this, the only edition of Elizabeth Peabody's periodical, "Aesthetic Papers," and was subsequently published as "Civil Disobedience."
"Civil Disobedience" is an essay on the ethical conduct of life. In this essay (as later when writing about John Brown), Thoreau's grief at the unrealized potential of democracy and his certainty of the absolute moral authority of the individual are given unbridled expression. This influential essay articulates the dilemma of the just individual who, as a member of society, owes obedience to a government that behaves unjustly. Thoreau targeted the U.S. war with Mexico, a war that Thoreau saw as being waged for no moral purpose, but to support the institution of slavery.
Object number: TH10a.1
