Pathos, Ethos, Logos: Thoreau's Attempts at Persuasion into ActionHenry David Thoreau was a poet, social philosopher, and educator in the first half of 1800 (Hampton ). He graduated from Harvard University in 1837 and, upon his return to his hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson, also a philosopher and poet (Hampton, "Ralph Waldo Emerson"). Emerson was also the leader of the Transcendentalist movement based on the idea that people should lead by example (social reform begins with the individual, not the government) and that the movement should be peaceful (Woodlief, Ruehl). Thoreau agreed with this approach until the United States invaded Mexico in May 1846 (Brown, Witherell). Opposed to slavery, Thoreau saw the invasion of Mexico as an attempt by the government to extend slavery westward. In his essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience”, published in 1849 with the original title “Resistance to Civil Government”, Thoreau protests against the government and states that it is a man's duty to rise up against the government when it commits a wrong act ( Thoreau). In his writings, Thoreau uses the three rhetorical approaches of Pathos, Ethos, and Logos in an attempt to persuade readers of his point of view (Heinrichs). Pathos is prevalent throughout Thoreau's essay. He uses pathos in an attempt to persuade his readers to make a logical and ethical choice. The essay as a whole is an attempt to get the reader to take action against what Thoreau sees as an unjust government. When he refers to the “mass of men” who are in the service of the country, the soldiers, as if they had “the same value only as horses and dogs” and to serve “the state therefore, not primarily as men, but as machines. ..... half of the map ...... of Texas from 1685 to 1892.” Texas Handbook Online. np, 2010.Web. May 24, 2014.Hampton, Thomas. "Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)." I hear America singing. PBS.org.,nd Web. May 24, 2014.________. “Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882).” I hear America singing. PBS.org., ndWeb. May 24, 2014.Heinrichs, Jay. Thanks for discussing. 1st ed. revised. Three Rivers Press: New York, NewYork, 2013.Ruehl, Robert M. Transcendental Disseminations: How a Movement Spreads Its Ideas. np,2011. Network. May 24, 2014.Thoreau, Henry D. Civil Disobedience. 1849. Network. May 23, 2014. Witherell, Elizabeth and Elizabeth Dubrulle. “The Life and Times of Henry David Thoreau.” The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau. np, 1995. Web. May 25, 2014. Woodlief, Ann. "Henry David Thoreau: Biography." the network of American transcendentalism. nd Web. May 24 2014.