What does Thoreau think is the right way to protest?

The first step toward effective protest to bring about governmental change according to Henry David Thoreau is to identify and communicate the nature of the problem and the desired outcome. He makes that clear in this line:

Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.

Thoreau strongly opposed slavery. He is most explicit in this essay as to what the people of his state, Massachusetts, should do to protest it:

Abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts.

And so Thoreau believed that withholding payment of his taxes to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was an effective way to gain the attention of a government that condoned the subjugation of fellow human beings. He feels that if others, in great numbers, would do the same, it would effectively communicate to the government the will of the people when it came to the abolition of slavery. He is content to go to jail for not paying his taxes because he believes that jail is the only place where "a free man can abide with honor." And his advice to tax collectors is that they should resign their offices until the government denounces slavery. Thoreau advocated for bloodless, peaceful revolution through what are essential economic sanctions against the government by its citizenry.