On July 4, 1845 – a full 69 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia – Henry David Thoreau moved to Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts, where he would ultimately pen what, along with “Resistance to Civil Government,” would prove to be his literary coup de grace.

In this alone, Thoreau’s actions on that day probably did more for the cause of liberty than anything which took place in that Pennsylvania meeting hall almost seven decades earlier. (more…)