Mahatma Gandhi Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mahatma Gandhi - Research Paper Example Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi believed that violence merely attracts more violence. He therefore discouraged his true followers from violently engaging the colonial authorities who ruled India before 1947. Gandhi wanted to force the imperialists to consider the harm that their presence in India was doing to the ethnic population. To this end, Gandhi believed that engaging in terrorist acts would not help India’s cause. He read about the concept of non-violent protest, as described by the American, Henry Thoreau, and fashioned his protest movement on precepts that were propagated by Thoreau. During his lifetime, Henry Thoreau was believed to be a dangerous anarchist. This is because he refused to support a government that had rules in place to support institutions such as slavery- which he deeply disapproved of. Thoreau, however, did not try to start a revolution in his time. He was merely trying to convince the public that there could be a more just government if this was demanded by the citizens. Thoreau believed that responsible citizens had the duty to refuse to pay taxes to a corrupt government. Thoreau actually decided not to pay taxes in order to demonstrate this point. He was arrested and confined to jail in 1848 for this action. He disapproved of the actions of the friend that paid his bail. T his experience inspired him to pen the essay ‘Civil Disobedience’, soon after. This proposal on the performance of acts of civil disobedience would be read and implemented years after Thoreau’s death by men like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Thesis Statement: Thoreau’s treatise contributed to the transformation of the world when revolutionary leaders like King and Gandhi used it to launch successful protests against colonialism and institutionalized racism. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who would later simply be known as Mahatma