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Civil Disobedience: The Importance And Ingenuity Of The Social Contract

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Every truly democratic society is subconsciously built on the idea of a social contract. In John Locke’s famous theory, the social contract is a tacit agreement between the populace and its government. Locke proclaims that while the people have the power to grant and revoke ruling control to certain individuals, they must also release some of their rights as the government asserts dominance for the purpose of establishing an orderly society. Although the fundamental structure of a society can be outlined by the social contract, the beliefs of the ruling body are not guaranteed to be benevolent or ethically correct. The importance and ingenuity of the social contract is found in its ability to remind both parties of a nation, the government and its people, of the respective powers they hold. Historic scenes of civil disobedience illustrate how those powers are implemented …show more content…

When individuals are taught to not fear their leaders, it generates a myriad of positive qualities in a society and destroys the “every man for himself” mentality. Promoting a culture centered on change by and for the masses, cooperation will not be a goal but a way of life. Peaceful resistance is not responsible for ripping apart the government. Instead, peaceful resistance locks eyes with it and forces it to pay attention. Most civil rights leaders, from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to African-American children in Birmingham’s Children's Crusade, have experienced some form of imprisonment for their actions of civil disobedience. These tactics pushed them into a holding cell, while the country held its breath in anticipation of the future of the Civil Rights Movement. The Children’s Crusade, for example, aimed to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama, after the children were trained in the ways of nonviolent protest. Thousands of crusaders braved Birmingham’s streets, full of brutal and armed police officers, because they wanted to improve their city and

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Reflection on the Birmingham’s Children’s Crusade Kim Gilmore wrote an article titled “The Birmingham Children’s Crusade of 1963,” which is about a powerful and impactful event in the civil rights movement. The theme of injustice leading to sorrow and the loss of innocence is evident in the Birmingham children’s crusade. Gilmore wrote about the determination these young protestors had during this movement. They faced violence, arrests, and intimidation by not only local people they saw daily but also the mayor of their own town. Gilmore talked about how “On the first day of the protest, hundreds of children were arrested.

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Early in 1963, Civil Rights leaders in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other civil rights groups developed a plan to desegregate Birmingham, a city notorious for its discriminatory practices in employment and public life. SCLC and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights members immediately canvassed colleges and high schools for volunteers and began training them on the tactics of nonviolent direct action. here are not enough cops to contain them, and police reinforcements are

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Have you ever felt the need to disobey authority in a fight for change? If so, then you are similar to some of the greatest leaders of monumental movements throughout history, including people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. These leaders worked their way towards change through nonviolence and civil protesting. However, they were not the first to tread a peaceful path to change.

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In his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. effectively states that social movements need to trigger conflict to advance and bring about societal change. Dr. King highlights the need for nonviolent direct action to generate moral awakening and a sense of urgency in the general population. In his letter, he makes the case that tension, when used constructively, can become a powerful tool for addressing injustices and that, on the other hand, passive acceptance of injustice feeds systematic oppression. Dr. King claims that people can overthrow the current system, force critical thought, and eventually open the door for laws and social norms to be transformed by peaceful protests and civil disobedience. An example of

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As Oscar Wilde said, “ It is through disobedience that progress has been made-- disobedience and rebellion.” Disobedience during the American Revolution was originally peaceful, but as grievances grew and British rule became harsher, Americans could no longer sit idly by. Radical disobedience to the law was necessary in order to promote change for American society. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, a drastic nonviolent movement was necessary to counteract the expectation of violence, reiterating to Americans that peaceful resistance to laws can positively affect a free society. The Civil Rights movement was split by two factions: one was a violent resistance named The Black Panthers and the other was a nonviolent protest led by Martin Luther King Jr.

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Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society, as it forces people to confront issues, leading to advancements for the true majority of society. As Martin Luther King said in "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," nonviolent direct action creates such a tension that an community is forced to negotiate the issue that is once ignored. This is especially important as usually oppressors have no concept of the severity of a situation, as they have not lived it themselves. People with privileges don't typically see the invisible cruelties needed to maintain the status quo.

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Peaceful resistance begins with one person or group battling an injustice, like Rosa Parks who inspired others to protest segregation during the Civil Right’s Movement. Protesters must next raise awareness about the issue and invite others to protest with them so that the issue can be “brought out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with”(Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”). As the movement grows, the government is forced to comply with the demands to change the law, the result of King’s effort against segregation. Once that law is changed, the government is altered to accommodate that change, leading to greater changes in the nation’s morals and ideals. These changes are then able to influence how others perceive those issues and may subsequently influence other nations to change their governments.

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Perhaps its most notable appearances were by Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. King stated in his famous letter from Birmingham Jail that he was there “because injustice is here” and that he would sit in there if it meant defending what was right. Over the course of his life, King was jailed 29 times for offenses relating to his peaceful protests, but kept protesting nonetheless because he knew he was right in his actions and was willing to make others listen even if that meant taking the consequences. Rosa Parks took a similar mindset a few years prior when she stated, “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right” about her willingness to be jailed for her cause. It is looking at amazing figures like these who have broadcasted the practice of civil disobedience for the world to see, not with their words, but with their actions, that give justification to peaceful resistance in the face of authority.

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Although peaceful resistance against laws created by the government has been recently used more frequently to express political dissent towards a government and is done entirely by civilians of their nation, it has been effective over the decades as political figures such as Martin Luther King Junior has proved. Peaceful resistance has proven effective only when there has been a truly repressive control on those protesting against their government. This truly repressive control must be something worth fighting for in order to make a reform that would improve society. For example, when women fought for their right to be included in suffrage, they succeeded and did so because their belief of the government’s restriction on them was truly something

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Civil Disobedience is an important moral responsibility of a citizen, however it should not get to the level of illegal activity under any circumstances, because great reform can be brought peacefully not violently. In the title named "On Civil Disobedience" by Mohandas K. Ghandi once said: “No country has ever become or will ever become, happy though victory in war”(Mohandas K. Gandhi , 148). Even that long ago, when war was at high, and people embraced it, he knew that the only thing war brought was death, and depression among civilians. This method of civil disobedience has only resulted into more wars, and no real solutions. The most efficient way to the be civilly disobedient is to be peaceful, but willing to stand up for your cause.

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People's justification to engage in civil disobedience rests on the unresponsiveness that their engagement to oppose an unjust law receives. People who yearn for a change in a policy might sometimes find themselves in a dead end because their “attempts to have the laws repealed have been ignored and legal protests and demonstrations have had no success” (Rawls 373). What Rawls says is that civil disobedience is a last option to oppose an unjust law; therefore, providing civil disobedients with a justification for their cause. Civil disobedience is the spark of light that people encountered at the dead end and they hope that this spark of light will illuminate to show that an unjust law should not exist at all. Martin Luther King, Jr, in his “Letter from

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Some 350 years ago, British philosopher John Locke made the claim that humans have a duty to obey the laws of whatever country one resides in simply because by residing in these countries, each resident has tacitly consented to obeying the laws of their respective country’s laws. The idea of tacit consent is central to Locke’s theory of political obligation because it is the foundation of the relationship between a state and its citizens, and whether there is a natural sense of trust between the government and the body politic. In a Lockean society, a sovereign power is, to a large extent, accountable for its people; however, their power is also restricted by Locke’s law of nature, which states that all men are free “to order their actions

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It is easy to see that civil disobedience can have a positive outcome and help peoples causes. Civil disobedience can be used in different ways to spread the news about an issue. In Malala Yousafzai’s speech and in Martin Luther King Jr.’s A Letter from Birmingham

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“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” These astonishing words that Mahatma Gandhi said made me suppose that Civil Disobedience is a Moral Responsibility of a citizen because when breaking certain laws, a citizen perhaps incorporate a good intention or a bad intention for breaking it. Citizens break the law occasionally to have their beliefs be heard so change can be assemble. Some ways that Civil Disobedience can be a Moral Responsibility would be breaking the law for the right intentions. An example of breaking the law for the right intentions could be The Salt March that Gandhi Created or, Rosa Parks standing up for her beliefs about her actions, MLK wanting equal rights with caucasian. Illegal Immigrants coming into the

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