Similarities Between Martin Luther King And Thomas Paine

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What does Martin Luther King, Thomas Paine and Henry David Thoreau have in common? They stood up and made a difference by protesting. All three of these people protested different things at different times but all three had one common goal: unity.
Martin Luther King protested civil rights for African Americans. He was the dominant leader of the United States civil rights movement. He was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and believed non violent protests were most effective. His first civil rights breakthrough was in 1955. When Dr.King proposed a citywide boycott of buses after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. The boycott was extremely effective. The boycott was so intense that members of the white citizens council firebombed …show more content…

In 1776, he wrote his first book after the battles of lexington and concord. He protested in this book that the colonies should be independant and encouraged American soldiers to keep doing their best. He supported his protests with reasons why the American people who were on edge of supporting the king or colonists to root for the colonists. The book “Common Sense” turned into a very big propaganda piece for the revolutionary war. Paine then wrote a series of 16 pamphlets from 1776-1783 called “The Crisis”. The series protested that monarchy was ineffective for the colonies and stated that independence was a natural born given right. Later on in 1791, Paine wrote “The Rights of man” in correlation to Edmund Burke's book “Reflections on the revolution in France”. In Paine's book he stands and supports the revolutions in France. He also supported the abolishing of France's monarchy and building a democratic government. After writing his book, Paine had to flee from incarceration by the english and went to Paris. During the reign of terror he was imprisoned, where he wrote his best work yet “The age of reason”. After being released from prison he traveled back to the United States in 1802 where he died 7 years later. Paine protested for independance and natural rights and played a big role in American