Question

henry d. thoreau. walden
\still we live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men; like pygmies we fight with cranes; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. our life is frittered away by detail.
an honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! i say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb - nail.
in the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand - and - one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. simplify, simplify.\
thoreau, henry david. \walden. 1854.\ ed. j. lyndon shanley. princeton: princeton up (1971)
the beliefs of transcendentalists expressed in the excerpt most directly influenced which of the following acts of civil disobedience by thoreau?
elimination tool
select one answer
a thoreau staged a march to protest a government \salt tax\ in an effort to promote the free use of basic necessities.
b thoreau organized a movement of over 1000 protestors to sit outside the white house for approximately two weeks to advocate for nature conservation.
c thoreau refused to pay his taxes and went to jail as a statement against the war with mexico.
d thoreau initiated a hunger strike to protest social and political inequities.

Explanation:

Transcendentalists emphasized individual conscience and non - conformity. Thoreau's refusal to pay taxes (as a form of civil disobedience) aligns with the idea of following one's inner moral compass (a key Transcendentalist belief) rather than just following the law blindly. Option A is incorrect as Thoreau did not stage a march for a "salt tax" (this was Gandhi's Salt March). Option B is wrong because there is no record of Thoreau organizing such a large - scale sit - in at the White House. Option D is incorrect as Thoreau's main act of civil disobedience was tax refusal, not a hunger strike.

Answer:

C. Thoreau refused to pay his taxes and went to jail as a statement against the war with Mexico.