for nature grew and continued to remind him of hisbrother. In 1845, Thoreau moved to Walden Pond and built a one room cabin. It was herewhere he began his work on the first of his two published works of literature, A Week onthe Concord and Merrimack River. It was in 1846, when Thoreau spent the night in jailfor refusing to pay a poll tax in order to protest the governments participationin theMexican War and their allowance of slavery. As Schneider says, "...he spent his famousnight in jail..." (14). He believed he was making an incredible statement that would set amodel for the rest of society. Unfortunately, his action had little effect on the people,which led to his essay "Civil Disobedience" (14). In this essay, Thoreau explains how hecould not call a government his own that allowed slavery. He first delivered this essay as aspeech called, "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in Relation to Government"(Meltzer 44). It did not become known as "Civil Disobedience" until after Thoreau'sdeath. His powerful and persuasive words in this speech deal with moral issues and theirconflict with the law (44). Also at this time, Thoreau took his first trip to the MaineWoods where he climbed the Mount Ktahdin (sic). He gained much from of his time spentat Walden Pond and got much accomplished. He completed the rough draft of his secondand best known piece of work, Walden (Schneider 14). Harding tells us Thoreau lived atWalden two years, two days, and two months out of his forty-four years of life (Hicks 47).He felt that this was time well spent and a beneficial aspect to his life, almost like a lifecompleted to his overall life. Thoreau left Walden Pond to return to town and work onwriting and lecturing. He stayed with the Emerson's for a time and than his parents. Theyear 1849 saw the publication of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and thelecture "Civil Disobedience." Unfortunately, A Week was not a huge hit and this onlydepressed T...
