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Civil Disobedience: Thoreau And Martin Luther King Jr.

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Civil disobedience is characterized by the refusal to conform to specific laws or refusal to pay expenses and fines as a way to protest but in a calm manner. These humble, nonviolent protests are examples of civil disobedience. The expectations of protesters as they demonstrate these rallies are to make a social, economic, or political change. Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. where both masters of peaceful protest that contend for the rights to disobey authority if there was unfair treatment. Henry Davis Thoreau was born in Concord on July 12th, 1817. He was a teacher and a writer who graduated from Harvard University. Thoreau wanted to change the mindset and customs of the people to put an end to the unfair treatment of them and their environment. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a minister, speaker, and author who lectured his rationality of peacefulness while heading the Civil Rights Movement. Sit-ins, boycotts, and marches are illustrations used to demonstrate this nonviolent protest. Thoreau describes the obligation and duty of the people to speak out and make moves against bias laws of the legislature. King discloses that the laws …show more content…

Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government" was composed in the United States throughout the introspective philosophy time, around 1837 to the 1840's. His essay details the experience he had when he was imprisoned for one night because he refused to pay poll taxes in protest against what he regarded as proslavery agenda of the war against Mexico. King's “A Letter from Birmingham Jail" is composed in Birmingham, Alabama a hundred years after the fact of Thoreau in the middle of Civil Rights Era. King was captured and imprisoned for seven days for challenging the unjust treatment of blacks in Birmingham. Both essays have experiences that take place during a time when there was a large amount of concern about the wrongdoing of the

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Civil Disobedience And Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

244 Words | 1 Pages

Thoreau and M.L.K Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, published in 1849, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, published in 1963, have profound similarities while still having underlying differences. The one of the most distinct similarities in “Civil Disobedience” and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is the choice of action both authors decide to use, nonviolent measures, and who they are protesting against, which is government and its actions. On the same note, both essays express the dissatisfaction in the average white citizen’s acceptance for the status quo on slavery and then segregation. For example, both essays have a strikingly similar sentence; King states, “I had hoped that the white moderate

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Comparing Henry David Thoreau's Resistance To Civil Government

1325 Words | 6 Pages

Both men stood for something they did not believe in, cruel and unjust treatment and being asked to pay taxes on something you don't see reason in. Thoreau and Dr. King provide these methods of protest to further support their disagreements with authority. The methods were non-violent and yet the government unjustly imprisoned both activists and further mistreated King and his protesters. As Thoreau declared, “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison” (Thoreau

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542 Words | 3 Pages

In 1849, Henry David Thoreau’s essay, Resistance to Civil Government was published. In this essay, Thoreau discussed the importance of using civil disobedience in hopes of creating a more civilized government. Around 100 years later, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter to some clergymen about why blacks should have the same civil rights just like everyone else called, Letter from Birmingham Jail. King was greatly influenced by Thoreau and many of King’s ideas were acquired from principles used in Thoreau’s essay. Compare and contrast how these two men were similar and different when it came to their beliefs of civil disobedience.

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Letter From Birmingham Jail Pathos

641 Words | 3 Pages

Both Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King both spend time in prison for not abiding by the law and practicing civil disobedience, although they are for very different causes. Henry David Thoreau wrote “Resistance to Civil Government” in 1849, he went to jail for not paying a tax that supported the Mexican-American War to expand American territories. He refused to pay this tax because he did not agree to expand American territories because the expansion would lead to more slavery, which he opposed. While Martin Luther King was arrested in 1863 for protesting the treatment of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. In jail, Dr. King experienced harsh conditions and more segregation than he did in Birmingham as a free man, so he wrote Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

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268 Words | 2 Pages

In my opinion Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. have very similar purposes in their writings. Both author 's are writing to protest unfair laws. But they also have very different audiences. In Civil Disobediance, Thoreau writes how those who break unjust laws should suffer the consequences as a protest to the laws.

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Comparing Letter From A Birmingham Jail And Resistance To Civil Government

452 Words | 2 Pages

Despite being indicted by the government, they insist that civil disobedience should be done in a non-violent manner that does not hurt others, establishing the moral high ground. Thoreau expressly says that he does not wish to quarrel or harm his neighbors, rather that he refuses to pledge his allegiance to an undeserving State, a right that should go unchecked by that government. Dr. King has a long record of calling for peace and demonstrating nonviolently, even when he would be well within his rights to defend himself morally. They are both pushing for negotiation and rational thought to prevail over unjust power

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883 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr discusses how the government is corrupt and does not care about all their citizens. Thoreau has influenced King to use his audience to show that the citizens of America should refuses to accept the rules of the government as they are because the government is selfish and focus on what they want to do for their own needs and not what they can do for the people around

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2124 Words | 9 Pages

Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is a dissertation written by American abolitionist, author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau published by Elizabeth Peabody in the Aesthetic Papers in 1849. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was born and lived almost his life in Concord, Massachusetts. After finishing public and private school in Concord he attended the prestige Harvard University. He excelled at Harvard despite leaving school for several months due to health and financial setbacks. Mr. Thoreau graduated in the top half of his class in 1837.

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1845 Words | 8 Pages

Civil Disobedience Compare and Contrast Henry Thoreau and Martin Luther King both wrote persuasive discussions that oppose many ideals and make a justification of their cause, being both central to their argument. While the similarity is obvious, the two essays, Civil Disobedience by Thoreau and Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. do have some similarities. King tries persuading white, southern clergymen that segregation is an evil, unfair law that ought to defeat by use of agitation of direct protesting. Thoreau, on the other hand, writes to a broader, non-addressed audience, and focuses more on the state itself. He further accepts it at its current state, in regard to the battle with Mexico and the institution of slavery.

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Thoreau And Martin Luther King Comparison

678 Words | 3 Pages

By analyzing both of these writings it’s almost obvious that Martin Luther King was influenced by Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” because they both use very similar writing techniques. King also described a four step to a non-violent protest, and the first one is to collect facts to determine whether an injustice law exists. This relates to Thoreau’s critique of an unjust government because Thoreau believed that every machine had

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895 Words | 4 Pages

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” and Henry David Thoreau essay “Civil Disobedience,” both share their opinions on social injustice and civil disobedience. They both believe that people can protest unfair and unjust laws imposed on them in a civil way. In addition, King and Thoreau are challenging the government with their essays, which they wrote after they got sent to jail. For protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama, King spent eleven days in jail; Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax. Both King and Thoreau’s essays present similar plans for a resolution.

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Essay On Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail

959 Words | 4 Pages

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

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801 Words | 4 Pages

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Robert Harris On The Purpose Of A Liberal Arts Education

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