Final answer:
The principle of civil disobedience, supported by Thoreau, Gandhi, and Dr. King, suggests that resistance to lawbreakers depends on the justice of the laws in question. While these leaders recognized the importance of a legitimate government, they also believed in resisting unjust laws nonviolently.
Step-by-step explanation:
Considering historical precedents set by figures like Henry David Thoreau, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi, the question of whether Townsend Harris students should swear to "resist anyone who disobeys [the law]" is complex. These leaders practiced and advocated for civil disobedience as a method to oppose unjust laws and bring about social change. They distinguished between an unjust law and a just government, sometimes acknowledging the legitimacy of the government while actively resisting specific laws perceived as unjust.
According to Thoreau, individuals have the right to resist authority if they deem it unjust, and Gandhi highlighted that civil disobedience can become a sacred duty under a corrupt or lawless state. Dr. King's activism in the civil rights movement also exemplified the use of nonviolent resistance to unjust laws.
Thus, the answer to whether students should resist those who disobey the law is likely 3) It depends on the specific circumstances and the laws being disobeyed. This suggests that resistance should be considered, not as a blind duty to any law, but rather in the context of its justice and the intention behind the resistance.