Question

part 1: read the excerpt from civil disobedience
directions: while reading the excerpt from civil disobedience, highlight statements thoreau makes that show his opinion about how individuals should respond to social injustice in blue. use the column on the right to take notes, ask questions, or make connections.
it is not a mans duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous, wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support. if i devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, i must first see, at least, that i do not pursue them sitting upon another mans shoulders. i must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too. see what gross inconsistency is tolerated. i have heard some of my townsmen say, \i should like to have them order me out to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or to march to mexico; - see if i would go\; and yet these very men have each, directly by their allegiance, and so indirectly, at least, by their money, furnished a substitute. the soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught; as if the state were penitent to that degree that it differed one to scourge it while it sinned, but not to that degree that it left off sinning for a moment. thus, under the name of order and civil government, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness. after the first blush of sin comes its indifference; and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral, and not quite unnecessary to that life which we have made.
the broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it. the slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur. those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform. some are petitioning the state to dissolve the union, to disregard the requisitions of the president. why do they not dissolve it themselves - the union between themselves and the state - and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury? do not they stand in the same relation to the state that the state does to the union? and have not the same reasons prevented the state from resisting the union which have prevented them from resisting the state?

Explanation:

Thoreau's opinion on how individuals should respond to social injustice is presented. He emphasizes that while a man may not have to devote himself entirely to eradicating injustice (as he may have other concerns), he has a duty to at least "wash his hands of it" and not give it practical support. This means that individuals should not be complicit in social injustice, even if they don't actively work to end it. The example of the soldier who refuses to serve in an unjust war is used to illustrate this point. Those who do not support the unjust government (by not providing soldiers or money) are applauded, showing that non - support is a form of resistance.

Answer:

Thoreau believes that individuals should at least "wash his hands of [social injustice]" and "not give it practically his support".