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Examples Of Letter From Birmingham Jail By Martin Luther King

824 Words4 Pages

Janelle Vo
AP Language & Composition
Mrs. Shapiro
December 20th, 2022
Martin Luther King Jr Argument Essay According to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., people not only have the moral obligation to obey just laws, but they also have the responsibility to disobey unjust laws. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King defines an unjust law as one that degrades human personality. I agree that people are obligated to disobey unjust laws through peaceful violation.
Civil disobedience against unjust laws allows people to recognize the faults in our society and government. This is especially true when large numbers of people come together to protest for a certain cause, and against a law, they believe the government should not enforce. For example, Mahatma …show more content…

Civil disobedience against unjust laws established in our society is not done to cause chaos, but to promote equality amongst everyone in society and for the greater good. For example, in the 20th century, people took part in the Civil Rights movement where they protested against segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement that the government legalized. As a result of their efforts, the government passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination against a person based on their race, color, national origin, religion, and sex, resulting in greater equality for minorities. Due to the Civil Rights Act, it encouraged people with different identities and cultures to come together and exchange ideas, values, and beliefs with one another, and it ultimately moved society forward. In addition, Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist that was arrested because she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. After her arrest, people began to boycott buses to protest the racial segregation that the city’s bus system tolerated. The purpose of this boycott was to get people to acknowledge the injustices that black people faced, causing similar demonstrations to occur all over the South. These demonstrations eventually resulted in the Supreme Court declaring segregation laws on buses unconstitutional. Through civil disobedience, change can be instilled amongst society to promote equality and freedom for all, moving society

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1124 Words | 5 Pages

Dr. King brings up the anxiety that willingness to break laws can cause. He decides next to answer the question, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” He feels that, “there are just laws, and there are unjust laws” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 2). Dr. King explains first that, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 2). He next explains that, “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 3).

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304 Words | 2 Pages

In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expressed his views on unfair laws, which brings a strong moral qualm. He argues that while people have a moral need to rebel against unjust laws, they similarly have a legal obligation to respect just laws. According to King, unjust laws are those that decrease human dignity and create a sense of shame, like segregation laws. King's ability to discern between a just and injust law and understand how the laws are applied makes his case more compelling. He recognizes that certain laws could seem fair on the surface but end up being unfair in practice.

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817 Words | 4 Pages

For millenniums, the laws of nature went ungoverned and unrefined, but humans have evolved to be complex and managed to create a set of codes to live by. Originally, there was nothing to base law on other than the current moral code, and possibly religion. In the letter, now titled, ¨Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the author discusses the two types of laws man can create: just and unjust laws. King asserts that the difference between just and unjust laws are that one is typically there to unite and the other is there to oppress; these arguments are agreeable because they are supported by history. To begin with, a just law is simply a fair law.

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586 Words | 3 Pages

Amity Lodevico ENG 1A Professor Clark 10 September, 2016 A strong country can only prevail when individuals have attained the ideals of justice and equality. However, throughout American history people have had to fight for their rights due to the injustices caused by the government. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. promotes the importance of justice and equality through responding to a letter from clergymen who wanted him to stop protesting against racial inequality. King’s letter builds upon his influences such as Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Thomas Jefferson’s “The Declaration of Independence,” through expressing discontentment with injustice and proclaiming away to combat it. The texts can also

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1732 Words | 7 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr., in his essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” writes that, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The evidence to support this assertion is not limited to King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail, but can also be found in Henry David Thoreau’s essay, “Resistance to Civil Government,” and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In “Resistance to Civil Government,” Thoreau writes that under a government in which the majority rule, the conscience of its subjects becomes atrophied. He emphasizes this point by juxtaposing men and machine, as well as life and death. King, in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” identifies compliance with an unjust government as the cause of loss of conscience.

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637 Words | 3 Pages

Equality promotes freedom and opportunity. Peaceful disobedience enables protestors to back up their beliefs. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, they utilized "First Amendment’s guarantee to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (Korpe). This demonstrated the purpose and permitted reasoning to be used in order for the public to relate. It also provided evidence as to why segregation was harmful to the community while preventing a chaotic

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395 Words | 2 Pages

Martin Luther King letter from Birmingham’s jail, it is an emotive letter written from his 8 days solitary confinement in Birmingham city. In this letter Martin Luther king intends to respond to his critics by letting them know about the motives of his nonviolent actions. As an activist of African American of the civil rights movement, Luther king replies to his clergyman peers with reasons why the way to conquer real freedom for color people is through legal reforms rather than violent actions. One of the main arguments of his letter, it is his non-conformity with white people decision to not follow the enacted law of 1954, in which Negros were given equalitarian treatment as white people did. Martin Luther king uses his most eloquent words

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616 Words | 3 Pages

Civil disobedience to laws have been used throughout history to express a dissatisfaction with the local government. It was through peaceful resistances such as the boycott of heavily taxed goods in colonial America that played a significant part in sparking the American Revolutionary War. Gandhi lead peaceful acts of disobediences to protest both discrimination in South Africa and the British rule in India. Also, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used acts of civil disobedience to lead the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Without these actions, the world would be drastically different than what we know today.

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446 Words | 2 Pages

Martin Luther King goes further to explain the difference between a just and an unjust law. “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law of the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law”. “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust”.

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888 Words | 4 Pages

Henry David Thoreau once stated in his book Civil Disobedience, If a law “is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law” (About Thoreau). He had strong beliefs in standing firm in what you think is right. Civil disobedience is explained as a person or group of people who stand against a law that they believe in unjust (Suber). The group or individual participating in civil disobedience usually peaceful, and do not fight against any repercussions against their acts. Their purpose for doing this is usually to bring attention to the law or laws that they view as unjust.

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1207 Words | 5 Pages

As stated before civil disobedience allows for minorities to have say when it comes to making laws. Other forms of protest like legal protest, boycotting, and protest with permit are not as good. These methods are not as likely to get the attention of the majorities because you are not putting yourself at risk and not showing how bad the law is. They also cost money and time for the person to use these forms of protest. If a person performed civil disobedience and got arrested for it, the majority can then see the effect of the

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505 Words | 3 Pages

So people don’t considerate that what they are fighting for can affect others in a negative way. People naturally care for what’s best for themselves and that’s why we have a democracy, so by using civil disobedience it could potentially harm or democracy.

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719 Words | 3 Pages

In a country as abstract and diverse as the United States, many decide to be unique individuals and go against the natural way of a citizen. We know these acts as Civil Disobedience. In the many acts of Civil Disobedience, people go against the basic laws of their country peacefully and accept the consequences for the actions that they commit. Civil Disobedience is strongly frowned upon and negatively impacts a free society because it tells people that they can deliberately break the laws that make us the United States of America, it gives a great hindrance to the many citizens trying to live freely by following the rules, and it could start a mini revolt on the country. Civil disobedience tells people that they can absentmindedly break the

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1251 Words | 6 Pages

Civil disobedience is nonviolent resistance to a government’s law in seek of change. Civil disobedience is an effective way to bring about change because it is a harmless way of fighting an unjust law or idea, it can educate people about the cause, and it has been successful many times in history. First and foremost, civil disobedience is

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1360 Words | 6 Pages

Civil Disobedience is known as breaking the law because you don 't agree with a certain law or have a peaceful protest about that law or what you believe in. An example would be when Mahatma Gandhi walked miles to the Indian ocean as the citizens gathered more and more to fight for there Indian Independence. This occasion was called the Salt March. The reason for The Salt March was a March were all the citizens from India walked with gandhi to fight back for their Independence from the British, since it was taken away from the British.

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