The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail is a two-act play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. First performed in 1970, it dramatizes a historical event: The night in 1846 that Henry David Thoreau—American writer, transcendentalist, and naturalist—spent in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax. Since the American government sought to fund the war in Mexico in a bid to extend the territory of enslavement, Thoreau protested by refusing to pay the tax. These experiences prompted him to write his most famous essay, “Resistance to Civil Government” or “Civil Disobedience,” in 1849. The play mentions many of the life experiences that led to the creation of Thoreau’s personal philosophy. His ideas have inspired many social and political leaders, including Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau’s philosophy became especially popular in the U.S. during the Vietnam War era because of the similarities between his refusal to cooperate with the war in Mexico and objections to the Vietnam conflict. The playwrights Lawrence and Lee—who met as soldiers during World War II—wrote the play just a few years prior to the United States’ withdrawal from Vietnam. They highlight the pursuit of justice and individual freedom, stressing that duty to one’s conscience supersedes duty to one’s country.

This guide refers to the first paperback edition published by Hill and Wang in 2001.

Content Warning: The source material uses offensive terms for Black people and Hispanic people. The source text and this guide discuss enslavement and racism.

Plot Summary

It is 1846 and Henry David Thoreau, a young man who lives alone in a cabin by the woods of Concord, Massachusetts, is in jail for refusing to pay his taxes. He recalls the first time he heard his mentor, the Transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, lecture about nonconformity, and Henry is transported back in time to that scene. Henry’s brother, John, joined him and welcomed Henry home from Harvard, and Henry marveled at how he learned more from one of Waldo’s lectures than from four years at college. Henry vowed to become as much like Waldo as possible.

In the present, Henry meets his cellmate, a vagrant named Bailey, who’s been wrongfully accused of arson. When Bailey explains that he’s been waiting three months for a trial, Henry is shocked by this injustice and clamors for the constable’s immediate attention. Bailey protests, saying he’s not a troublemaker and just wants to “get along,” which is an idea that Henry despises. Henry thinks most people want to just “get along” and end up living their lives with the goal of being liked instead of experiencing real freedom. When Henry learns that Bailey is illiterate, he teaches Bailey to write his name in the dirt of their cell.

In a flashback, Henry recalls his last day as a schoolteacher. He incurred the anger of the school board because he refused to teach the approved texts and lessons. Instead, he encouraged his students to be curious and explore nature. The school board threatened to fire him if he didn’t comply with their teaching methods, so Henry resigned. Likewise, Waldo claimed that he could not “comply with custom” as a minister of the Unitarian Church, and he resigned as pastor (23). With his brother John, Henry opened an outdoor school where he focused on individualism and encouraged students to explore. However, this experimental school was not a success, and most parents soon withdrew their children.

Back in the cell, Henry declares to Bailey that he is the freest man in the world because he is not “chained” to work and customs like everyone else. In a flashback, Henry recalls how he worked outdoors even on Sunday mornings while others in town, including John, went to church. He remembers that when John died from tetanus, the church was full of people for the funeral. Henry was furious at the indignity of his brother’s death and refused to pray because he believed God wasn’t paying attention.

Soon after, Henry went to Waldo and offered to work as a handyman for the Emerson family and as a tutor for their son. Waldo insisted on paying him, but Henry only asked for a bit of land near Walden Pond for an “experiment,” and Waldo agreed. Back in his cell, Henry condemns society’s materialism and describes how freeing it is to live a simple life. Henry says he feels drunk on freedom in his life at Walden Pond. He describes his self-sufficient existence to Bailey and explains how he needs very little money. Still, he admits he must go to town occasionally, and the previous day he arrived in town looking for a cobbler to mend his shoe. That was when Sam Staples, the constable, served him a court order to pay his tax. Henry refused, unwilling to contribute to the unjust war in Mexico or support the institution of enslavement. Sam arrested him for this. Henry stands by his decision to not pay the tax, explaining that asking him to pay for a rifle is the same as asking him to fire it. Waldo visits and asks Henry why he is in jail, and Henry asks Waldo why he isn’t, meaning that Waldo, too, should have refused to pay the tax.

Then, Henry recalls his encounter with a fugitive from enslavement named Williams. One day, when Henry was working on his bean patch by Walden Pond, Williams appeared in the woods. He asked Henry for food and explained that he was trying to make his way to Canada. Henry treated him with respect and kindness, so Williams was tempted to remain back with Henry. However, Henry understood that Williams’s dark skin would make life difficult and dangerous for him, even in the North, so he advised Williams to continue to Canada for his best chance at opportunity and freedom.

Henry then recalls arguing with Waldo after discovering that a Boston police officer shot Williams. Waldo was frustrated and asked what Henry expected of him; Henry wanted Waldo to use his influence to rouse the community’s anger at Williams’s unjust murder. Waldo said Henry must be patient because social progress is slow. Henry then turned the full force of his anger on his mentor, highlighting Waldo’s hypocrisy: While Waldo talked about resistance and revolution, he wasn’t willing to give up his social standing and comfort for his ideas. Waldo believed it was the job of the president and Congress to end enslavement, so he voted for people who shared his values. For Henry, this was simply not enough.

In his cell, Henry thrashes in his sleep. He dreams of war, with the constable and deacon leading the troops and urging soldiers to kill. Waldo appears in his dream; he is dressed as the president and announces that he needs time to think. When Henry tries to persuade him to act, he finds he cannot utter a sound. Sam Staples orders his men to fire at Williams, who is dressed as a Mexican soldier. Henry begs someone to speak out against the war, and a young Congressman, Abraham Lincoln, does. Back in the cell, the constable wakes Bailey and Henry with porridge and cocoa. He tells Henry that his aunt paid his tax overnight, so he is free to leave. Henry is enraged by her intrusion and vows to return to jail and protest if Bailey is not tried soon. When Bailey says he’d like to visit Walden, Henry declares that it feels like it is time for him to move on from there. He hears an “eccentric” drum beat and strides from the stage to its beat.