Compare And Contrast Letter From Birmingham Jail And Martin Luther King

Letter of Birmingham Jail and Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. both tried to fight for their rights to go against the authority if there is any social injustice. Thoreau took the duty and responsibility of the people to protest and take action against the laws of the government. Although, King communicates to his people about the laws or the government against the blacks are intolerable and that “Civil Disobedience” should have an instrument of freedom. They both incredibly illustrate their thought that “Civil Disobedience” is a needed thing, and the similarities and differences of these two essays at portrayed through the time, people, speaker, tone, and strategies. Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” was wrote in the U.S. during the transcendentalism time around 1837 to about the 1840’s. His time included small amounts of time that he spent in jail. On another hand, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was wrote more than 100 years later. King wrote in Alabama during the civil rights time. Similar to David Thoreau’s, the King’s time and place where he wrote was in a jail cell, but just for majority of the essay. Both essays have times that took place where a social injustice was going on that made the authors write their essays in the first place.

David and Martin used large groups of people. David used people that was U.S. citizens because he often wrote about what the government displayed towards people. Example, David wrote, “Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out it faults, and do better than it would have them?” King’s people understood that eight clergymen wrote against King’s activity, and it also showed that the King’s people he talked to include the U.S. citizens and the whole wide world. Both David and Martin talked to huge audiences that put their essays to great