Ethos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

As seen throughout significant events in history, strong leaders are able to mold language into a powerful tool, which they utilize for specific goals. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Henry David Thoreau’s On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, many rhetorical devices such as ethos and the difference between just and unjust laws play a direct role in exemplifying main ideas throughout the essays. Although the essays were very similar, they did differ in the tone and audience they attracted. King and Thoreau are able to solidify their main ideas by establishing ethos in both essays. King states in his letter, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating

Thoreau establishes credibility by referring to the Mexican war as an unjust law, which is immoral, is his eyes. For instance, one main point of Thoreau is “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them . . . Men generally, under such a government as this . . . think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. . . (945)” Thoreau believes that it is not the people’s fault for doing the wrong thing; it is the government that stops them from doing what is right. Thoreau refuses to pay his taxes because they support the Mexican war, which he believes is a moral evil that should be eliminated. Therefore, Thoreau establishes credibility so his audience does not think he is unable to pay his taxes because of financial reasons; however, Thoreau does not pay his taxes because he refuses allegiance with the

Both authors try to persuade their audience to oppose specific laws that are unjust. In doing so, King and Thoreau define what they believe is just and unjust. By King’s definition, a just law is moral or the law of god. An unjust law is out of harmony with the moral law, or degrades human personality (265). In regards to King essay, he believes, “Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws (265). Leading up to civil disobedience in Birmingham, as the last option, King states how he uses self-purification to assure every move he made was right. Like King, Thoreau’s definition of a just law is moral, and an unjust law affects one’s conscience. He believes, “If the injustice . . . is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Similarly to King, Thoreau believes if the government ever becomes corrupt, it is the people’s duty to correct the wrong. In both essays, King and Thoreau feel it is the people’s obligation to do what’s right, and that men have to work in order to see changes brought