Transcendentalists believed that citizens of good conscious should actively oppose unjust government policies through non-violent resistance. In order to oppose the government in a non- violent way, they transcendentalists would refuse to pay their taxes. They lived in belief that good individuals should be willing to go to jail, rather than giving away their ethics and subdue to immoral government's laws and activities. The enslaved character from the movie Amistad shows civil-disobedience in this scene. The scene is set in a court room where the slave owner is pleading his case. The owner was throwing off his slaves from the boat due to the fact that there was too much weight. As he explains his side of the story, one of his slaves slowly rises while demanding freedom. During this time, it was illegal for slaves to have right to freedom of speech. However, the enslaved man decided to go against the law so that he could stand up the good cause of giving slaves freedom. This is how the movie Amistad is a perfect example of civil disobedience because the slave went against the law in a non-violent way. " If the machine of government is of such nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law." -Henry David Thoreau This quote ties into the tenant of civil disobedience because its main message is to tell people that if a law requires you to do something that lacks fairness and justice, its better to just break the law. As mentioned earlier, transcendentalists believed in breaking the law if it says to do something that you know is not morally right.