DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52538#0083
CHAPTER IV.
Politics.
I.—INTRODUCTORY.
In his still life^of isolation and contemplation, Thoreau
would fain have concerned himself little about the political
happenings which had their place in that external world
which, with its busy, trivial interests, was to him but a puppet
show. In his earliest work he writes :
“ To one who habitually endeavors to contemplate the
true state of things, the political state can hardly be said to
have any existence whatever. It is zcnreal, incredible and in-
significant to him and for him to endeavor to extract the truth
from such lean material is like making sugar from linen rags,
when sugar-cane may be had.” *
Emerson accounted for Thoreau’s attitude towards politics
by citing Aristotle to the effect that: “ One who surpasses his
fellow-citizens in virtue is no longer a part of the city.
Their law is not for him since he is a law to himself.1’ f
But when flagrant abuses of government were manifest,
such as the unjust war with Mexico—entered upon by the
American government from motives of greed—and the enact-
ment of Webster’s Fugitive Slave Bill, Thoreau felt himself
compelled to recall to the minds of his countrymen the
meaning and purpose of government.
2.—CIVILIZATION CORRUPT.
Civilization seems to Thoreau to be but a doubtful good.
The manifold business of the world, the over-valuing of the
merely material and unimportant in life, diverts attention from
the true source and meaning of life itself :
* Week, p. 166.
t R. W. Emerson, Biographical Sketch, Miscellanies (Preface), p. 26.
Politics.
I.—INTRODUCTORY.
In his still life^of isolation and contemplation, Thoreau
would fain have concerned himself little about the political
happenings which had their place in that external world
which, with its busy, trivial interests, was to him but a puppet
show. In his earliest work he writes :
“ To one who habitually endeavors to contemplate the
true state of things, the political state can hardly be said to
have any existence whatever. It is zcnreal, incredible and in-
significant to him and for him to endeavor to extract the truth
from such lean material is like making sugar from linen rags,
when sugar-cane may be had.” *
Emerson accounted for Thoreau’s attitude towards politics
by citing Aristotle to the effect that: “ One who surpasses his
fellow-citizens in virtue is no longer a part of the city.
Their law is not for him since he is a law to himself.1’ f
But when flagrant abuses of government were manifest,
such as the unjust war with Mexico—entered upon by the
American government from motives of greed—and the enact-
ment of Webster’s Fugitive Slave Bill, Thoreau felt himself
compelled to recall to the minds of his countrymen the
meaning and purpose of government.
2.—CIVILIZATION CORRUPT.
Civilization seems to Thoreau to be but a doubtful good.
The manifold business of the world, the over-valuing of the
merely material and unimportant in life, diverts attention from
the true source and meaning of life itself :
* Week, p. 166.
t R. W. Emerson, Biographical Sketch, Miscellanies (Preface), p. 26.