Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817.  He was a writer who is most famous for writing "Civil Disobedience".  Thoreau wrote many essays about social institutions.  His belief was that people should be able to act according to how they saw things as right or wrong.   He thought the government should not interfere with people's actions and that you should be able to disobey a law you did not think was right. For more information about Henry David Thoreau, visit the Thoreau Home page at http://www.walden.org/thoreau/home.hdt.htm