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Comparing Civil Disobedience And Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Acting civil, but disobedient, is a way to non-violently protest things you believe to be unfair. Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay called “Civil Disobedience” which has been used by many such as Martin Luther King Jr. to help fight injustice. King was a pastor and renowned speaker who headed the Civil Rights movement. Dr. King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was based on concepts he read in Thoreau's “Civil Disobedience”. While both writers discuss ways to be civil yet disobedient, they convince the readers in opposite ways. Thoreau is quick to share his beliefs and his personal hate towards the government. Because of this strong hatred, Thoreau writes in a more aggressive manner. To contrast this, Dr.King is religious and focuses on what’s best for the group. These men have the same views but view them in different ways. Thoreau is more focused on individual rights while King is concerned more with raising awareness and making it better for the whole group. …show more content…

He believed human law and the government to be lower-ranking. Thoreau believed that if the two were at odds, the individual should follow their conscience even if that means disregarding human law. In his letter, King defines what he believes to be a just law versus an unjust law. King believed a just law was man made and agreed with moral law (the law of God). King went on to say that an unjust law was any law that went against the law of God. King even quoted St. Aquina in saying, “ An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.” In more basic terms, King believed laws were unjust if they degrade human personality or legalize difference, while just laws and the laws he advocated for promote legalizing

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(Paragraph 4). This drew the clergymen’s attention to King’s beliefs and possibly made them realize the flaws in the system. King also states, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law…” (Paragraph 5).

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In his letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King mentioned the three pious Jewish youths, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as an example of the civil disobedience for the in-just laws of Nebuchadnezzar. King states “there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake”. King believes that human history is full of numerous examples of breaking un-just laws as in case of the three young men’s story. They had been thrown in the blazed furnace because they did not obey the king’s order, and they didn’t worship the golden statue made by Nebuchadnezzar.

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Chen 1 Bradley Chen Welsh APLAC/Fifth Period 24 January 2016 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Questions King introduces his letter with a tone of impatience, irony, and sarcasm. King has a tone of irony towards the questions of the clergy. In the first paragraph, King says “If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day.” With this paragraph, one can detect the underlying sarcasm throughout the letter.

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Throughout his letters, sermons, and other writings, Martin Luther King, Jr. expresses the idea that one has a moral obligation to disobey an unjust law – most notably in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” King also conveys the idea that change must be demanded, and not waited for by the oppressed. Additionally, Michael Sandel describes Aristotle’s idea that justice is teleological and honorific in Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? This means that determining whether something is just requires delving into the telos, or true meaning or purpose of that thing.

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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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Civil Disobedience In the dictionary civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest, but Thoreau and Martin Luther King have their own beliefs to civil disobedience. In Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” he writes about the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. Martin Luther King uses civil disobedience as something that effectuates change in the government. Both Thoreau and Martin Luther King has similar yet different perspectives on civil disobedience.

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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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Martin Luther King Jr once stated, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” in his Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963. He was invoking the principle of civil disobedience. He wasn't justifying breaking laws just because, but instead, meant that you break the law and accept your punishment, in hopes that people will come to see that the law is unethical. Civil disobedience plays an important role in how our society has been shaped up until this point.

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They said they weren’t applied correctly. Thoreau asked for “not at once no government, but at once a better government” (250). He says that the government is necessary, but needed to be improved. King believed that there are some instances when a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. He was correct in his beliefs like a law may appear correct on paper.

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Now that king established the theory of Just and Unjust laws he then explains the difference between a just and unjust law, King says just laws “square with moral law” meaning the law agrees with the law of god. An unjust law is the opposite; the

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Peaceful disobedience. Obviously, the key word in this phrase is one meaning “not involving war or violence.” What could be better for society than disobedience not involving destructive actions? Some people could argue that protests of civil rights ended in violence, but the violence came from the law, not the people disobeying it.

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Despite his mostly upstanding protests, he did not believe in exclusively following the law -- he believed in following yourself. According to King, if your moral code lines up with the law, then you can live simply as a law-abiding citizen. But, if it does not, you can and should act against them. This mindset showcases his positive perspective on disobedience and, being a recognizable

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King distinguishes between just and unjust laws by explaining the difference between them; he explains the moral affect each one has, the unfair way the majority used unjust laws, and the reason breaking unjust laws is okay. Now then, King uses morality to help explain the difference between just and unjust laws. King says “A just law is a man-made law that squares with the moral law or the law of God.” (356) He goes on to say “Unjust…….

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King addresses the characteristics of unjust laws in 3 points. First point being that just laws are always harmonious with natural morale law. Second point being that a just law is one that uplifts human personality as opposed to degrading human personality. Lastly, a just law can only be created in the most democratic manner possible and if it is not, the minority automatically has the right to disobey the law because they had no say in the creation of the law. As for the first point, a natural morale law must be measured by our natural human sense.

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This citation shows that Thoreau did not want to follow the laws. Thoreau also believed in living life by following moral law and not law stated in the constitution. Thoreau also believed that the government does best if it does not rule over the people. In the essay Civil Disobedience it says “That government is best which governs least”. This shows what Thoreau felt the government should not do.

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