I should feel as if I were worth less in that case." (Thoreau 232) Thoreau himself can be used as an example of accepting a penalty for disobeying an authority. In his essay, he mentioned that he refused to pay a poll-tax because he thought it was the government abusing its power over the citizens. "I have paid no poll-tax for six years." (233) This action was openly defying the higher authority that was the United States government. Thoreau knew that he could be penalized for his refusal to pay and was willing to accept a punishment, which turned out to be a jail sentence of one night. "I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night- (233) Thoreau didn't even view imprisonment as a punishment in society because he believed that prison was the only place for righteous people to stay. That is because people were being imprisoned for standing up for their beliefs and arguing that the government's practices, especially slavery, were immoral. Thoreau thought that imprisoning these people was unjust in itself. "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." (230) Thus any penalty that involved a prison sentence was more glorifying than punishing in Thoreau's mind. Thoreau saw penalties imposed by authorities upon a defiant citizen as a reward and sign of rectitude, rather than as a punishment. Thoreau viewed these penalties as a furtherance of the government's immorality, yet at the same time a furtherance in the citizen's glorification. Thoreau would agree with Krutch and undertake the idea that any man or woman rebelling against an authority must be cognizant of the consequences ahead.
Although Thoreau would agree with Krutch, in a perfect society, Thoreau would see no need for Krutch's statement because of its assumption that actions defying an authority will be punished. Thoreau's ideal government is one "which governs least.
