Mohandas Gandhi, born to a merchant cast in India, defied his family and
caste beliefs by studying law in England. This experience broadened his
view of the British Empire. He found that he was often accepted there as an
equal. After he finished his studies in England he returned to India, but
was not terribly successful. Eventually he was hired by a company in 1893
to represent their interests in the British colony of Natal in Africa. He
was the first "colored lawyer allowed to practice in Natal and did well.
However, he discovered that Indians in Natal were harshly
discriminated against. He believed that as a British subject he should be
treated as the equal to the Englishmen in Natal and organized the Natal
Indian Congress to work for Indian rights. However, he remained loyal to
the British, intending to change their policies. He helped organize
ambulance services during the Boer War and also helped against a Zulu
In 1906, however, when no changes had occurred, he developed the
philosophy of civil disobedience, based on writings of Thoreau, Tolstoy and
Jesus Christ. He refused to comply with discriminatory laws, which put him
Finally in 1914 the government made some concessions including the
recognition of Indian marriages and dropping the poll tax for Indian
In India he began working for "swaraj," or home rule for India. He
worked hard to unite Hindus and Muslims, traditional opponents, to work for
this goal. In 1920, arguing that dependence on English goods had undermined
Indian self-sufficiency and economy, he urged all to spin their own yarn
and weave their own cloth rather than buy British cloth. This led to his
first imprisonment in India. In 1930, to protest a salt tax, he led a 200-
mile march to the sea and taught the people to gather and refine the law.
Once again he was imprisoned. Through this process he saw h
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