Final answer:
Henry David Thoreau hoped democracy would allow for greater individual freedom and resistance to unjust governmental actions. His works advocate for civil disobedience and a simple life connected to nature, which have inspired global movements for passive resistance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Thoreau's Vision for Democracy
Henry David Thoreau's main hope for the democracy of his time was to achieve greater individual freedom and resistance to governmental injustices. His seminal works, "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" and "Walden; or Life in the Woods", articulate his vision for a society that values the individual's rights to refuse support for an immoral government and to live free from societal conventions. Through these texts, he inspired many to consider nonviolent civil disobedience as a means to oppose unjust laws and to pursue a simpler life, more attuned to nature and one's own conscience.
Thoreau's dissatisfaction with the government was particularly influenced by his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery. He believed that the act of standing up against governmental injustice was a duty for conscientious individuals. His outlook was shaped by the transcendentalist movement, of which his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson was a central figure, advocating for self-reliance and the spiritual connection with nature. Moreover, Thoreau's ideas have influenced various leaders, like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., who used Thoreau's philosophy on passive resistance to guide their own movements for social change.