In 1845, Thoreau went to live and work at Walden Pond. He stayed for two years, keeping a journal of his thoughts and his encounters with nature and society. Over the next few years, Thoreau wrote and rewrote (seven drafts in all) Walden; or Life in the Woods, one of the most famous works in American literature. Published in 1854, this classic has never been out of print and is still read by people all over the world. Until his death in 1862, Thoreau combined surveying, lecturing, and writing; in 1849, at the height of the anti-slavery struggle, he published On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, (a lecture originally entitled Resistance to Civil Government). Many years later, this essay inspired Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other nonviolent protesters.
Thoreau became increasingly involved with the social and political issues of his time. He often spoke out against economic injustice and slavery, refusing to pay taxes to a government that supported slavery. With other members of his family, Thoreau helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in Canada. He opposed the government for waging the Mexican war; he delivered an abolitionist lecture, Slavery in Massachusetts. He even supported John Brown's efforts to end slavery after meeting him in Concord, defending his character after Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, in A Plea for Captain John Brown.
On May 6, 1862 at the age of 44, the self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms and author renowned for motivating the world to value our natural environment, died after a prolonged struggle with tuberculosis. He is buried on Authors' Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.
