Machiavelli vs. Thoreau (Compare and Contrast Essay)

<Tab/>The way one should govern and the way for one to be governed will always be an ongoing struggle. How can a government maintain order and the safety of its people yet at the same time preserve its citizens' natural right to be free? The ideas from Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian aristocrat, who published "The Prince" in 1513 for a Medici prince as a guideline on how to rule a country, gives a conservative approach to how one should govern. Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" published in 1849, offers a liberal approach on how one should be governed. Machiavell…