Henry David Thoreau wrote his essay "Civil Disobedience" as he sat in jail for one night for not paying a poll tax. Consider his actions and the thoughts he conveys. What is the central purpose of Thoreau's essay?

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Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" attempts to persuade people to break a law if the law itself is corrupt or unacceptable. In Thoreau's case, he refused to pay a $1 poll tax because he deemed it to be unjust. His refusal to pay a dollar resulted in him being thrown in jail, but he stuck to his principles and beliefs. Through his essay, Thoreau also conveys that a person should not be afraid or embarrassed about going to jail, but should gladly serve the time if it means attention will be brought to an unjust law. Thoreau argues that people shouldn't blindly trust laws and societal norms if they are unjust.

The central purpose of thoreau's essay was that he refused to pay taxes and spent a night in jail. But, more generally, he ideologically dissociated himself from the government, "washing his hands" of it and refusing to participate in his institutions. According to Thoreau, this form of protest was preferable to advocating for reform from within government; he asserts that one cannot see government for what it is when one is working within it. Leaving that the main purpose was to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws.