Henry David Thoreau was born on the 12th of July 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, eighteen miles northwest of Boston (Concise 349). “Though Thoreau was born in ‘the era of good feeling,’ his family experienced many misfortunes, politically, physically, and financially (Harding 4).” Thoreau’s father, John, was a small, quiet man who got along with Henry on the surface, but it seems that the two never quite understood each other’s desires. John had weakening health, which caused the family’s financial strain (Harding 11). Cynthia Thoreau, Henry’s mother, was more of an outspoken, dynamic, person. Even though the family was poor, she was known always to have enough for her children and her neighbors

Another significant event occurred in early 1846 during Henry’s stay at Walden Pond.

“ Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves abolitionists should at once effectively withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts, and not wait until they constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the right to prevail through them…Moreover, any man more right then his neighbors, constitutes a majority of one already (Mahoney Smith).”

Henry later returned to Harvard and maintained a better than average scholastic record and at his graduation in 1837 was chosen as one of the honor students to speak on the “commercial spirit,” at the commencement exercises, where in he startled his audience by suggesting,

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