For almost as long as telephones have been a common feature in homes and offices, telecommunication companies have regularly been faced with a situation where demand in a particular street or area exceeds the number of physical copper pairs available from the pole to the exchange.
This incident prompted Thoreau to write his famous essay, âCivil Disobedienceâ (originally published in 1849 as âResistance to Civil Governmentâ). Thoreauâs minor act of defiance caused him to conclude that it was not enough to be simply against slavery and the war. A person of conscience had to act.
Civil Disobedience enjoyed widespread influence, both in the United States and abroad. Most famously, the work inspired Russia's Leo Tolstoy and India's Mahatma Gandhi. Later, it lent force to the American Civil Rights Movement.