has made that choice and that it will be an act of civil disobedience on his part as he refuses induction into the Army and accepts the alternative of federal prison. This is precisely why his act is one of Civil Disobedience, since he is willing to take the consequences to show that the law is unjust.
Smith's statement to the American people immediately recalls the act and statement of Henry David Thoreau, who went to jail as well for an act of civil disobedience to protest a law he believed unjust. Thoreau give the reason why civil disobedience is to be accepted as a method of bringing about change when he talks about the responsibility the individual has to shape the government and the fact that the government must be made into something people can respect. If the people do not respect it, he is saying, they need not obey it and can use disobedience as a way of bringing about the necessary change (Thoreau 19-20). While this view is appealing, it can also be abused and arguably could be used to support many movements and ideas we might not find appealing.
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