Final answer:
Henry David Thoreau (option 1) was briefly jailed for refusing to pay poll tax as a protest against slavery and the Mexican-American War, an act that led to his famous essay "Civil Disobedience" and influenced future social movements promoting nonviolent resistance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The author who was jailed briefly for his refusal to pay the poll tax was Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau was a staunch abolitionist and a proponent of civil disobedience. He objected to the poll tax because it was used to fund the Mexican-American War and the institution of slavery, which he found to be morally reprehensible.
As a form of protest, he refused to pay the tax and accepted the consequent imprisonment, which lasted for a single night before he was released after someone (likely an aunt) paid the tax on his behalf. His experience led him to pen the essay "Civil Disobedience", advocating for individual resistance to government in nonviolent opposition to unjust laws.
Thoreau's philosophical resistance and his call for individual freedom were immortalized in his works Walden; or, Life in the Woods and "Civil Disobedience." Through these texts, he became an influential figure who inspired other leaders like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to adopt the principles of nonviolent protest and passive resistance.