In 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a cabin in the woods at Walden Pond to record a philosophical experiment in living: to simplify his life, to support himself entirely by his own labor, and to draw spiritual sustenance from his surroundings. The result: Walden: Or, Life in the Woods (1854).

In 1846, Thoreau refused to pay a mandated poll tax, refusing to support a government thatprotected slavery and had launched an aggressive war against Mexico. In his essay 'Civil Disobedience,' Thoreau argues that it is the duty of every citizen to disobey immoral laws - and willingly suffer the legal consequences for doing so.