Henry David Thoreau

Released
Date of birth:12. 07. 1817
Date of death:06. 05. 1862
Age:44† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1800s
State:Massachusetts
Support
Abolitionism Anti-War
Henry David Thoreau

Biography

Henry David Thoreau, the Transcendentalist writer and naturalist, spent a night in the Concord, Massachusetts jail in July 1846 for refusing to pay the poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican War. A relative paid the tax over his objection and he was released the next morning; the episode inspired his enduring essay "Civil Disobedience" (1849).

Case

Charges: Refusing to pay the Massachusetts poll tax, in protest of slavery and the Mexican War.
Incarcerated: July 1846
Sentence: One night in jail; released the next day when a relative paid the tax over his objection.
Convicted: Held overnight in the Concord town jail (July 1846).

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