in 1845 thoreau（american naturalist and philosopher）wasarrested and sent to prison for one night because he refused to paya tax .although the amount of the tax was small，thoreauthought that he should not support a government that allowedslavery to exist or which made war.he felt that “under a gov-ernment which imprisons any person without justice ，the trueplace for a just man is also in prison.”when emerson went tosee him and asked，“henry，what are you doing in here？”thoreau answered，“ralph，what are you doing out there？”
thoreau was not discouraged by his night in prison.heknew that ideas could not be imprisoned like people.
1845年，索洛（美国博物学家及哲学家）因为拒绝交纳一项税款而被捕入狱，被关闭了一个晚上。虽然税款的数目很小，可是索洛认为一个允许奴隶制存在或对其他国家进行战争的政府，他是不应该给予支持的。他觉得“在一个没有正当理由就关押人的政府统治下，监狱也是一个正直的人应该去的地方。”埃默森去看望他时问他：“亨利，你在里面干些什么？”索洛回答说：“拉尔夫，你在外边干些什么？”
索洛并没有因为一夜的牢狱之灾而意志消沉。他懂得思想意识是不能象人一样被禁锢起来的。