Which two sentences in this excerpt from "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau support the transcendentalist idea that the individual is more important than government or society? This American government — what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves… But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it. Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?- in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislation? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.

The two sentences from “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau that supports the transcendentalists' idea that the individual is more important than government or society are;

It has not the vitality and force of a single living man

For a single man can bend it to his will

Explanation:

According to David, it is the responsibility of the government to end the unjust actions happening to citizens with the aim of collecting taxes. As long as the government continues with its unjust actions, individuals have a right to choose whether to pay taxes or not by defying the orders of the government.

David’s declaration is that if the government wanted people to take part in the government practices that were unjust. Then people will not have any choice but to break the laws even though it means ending pin prison.