Henry David Thoreau did not live a long life, however, he is perhaps America's most famous and beloved philosopher, rebel, and environmentalist. In 1846, he protested against slavery and the Mexican War by not paying his taxes and spent a night in jail (Thoreau pg). Thoreau said, He said, "It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey" (Henry pg). His essay "Civil Disobedience" has influenced countless great men, including Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Although, he was regarded as a nature writer, "he declined membership in a scientific society, saying he was, 'a mystic, a transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher to boot'" (Thoreau pg). He died before completing the "Kalender," a book he was writing based from his vast collection of Indian data that would be "a total, all comprehending picture of life" (Thoreau pg). During...
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