Review the third paragraph of part 1: thoreau believed that a government that supported slavery was corrupt and immoral. he was also deeply suspicious of government. for these and other reasons, thoreau refused to pay his poll tax for a number of years. the poll tax was a legal tax owed by every person. it was basically a tax on one's body. after not paying for years, he was at last arrested. he spent only one night in jail, however, as a relative paid the tax for him. he was reportedly furious that any tax was paid on his behalf. what is the main purpose of the first sentence of this paragraph? to explain the government's policies to introduce the topic of thoreau's beliefs to introduce the point that thoreau was a criminal to set up a paragraph about government abuses