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Why Is Civil Disobedience Necessary

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Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is defined as, the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes. Henry David Thoreau gives a complete rundown of civil disobedience in his book, Civil Disobedience. In “Letter From Birmingham City Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr., he talks about how he was put in jail for peaceful protesting “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps..” (King), which is part of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience can be necessary in certain circumstances. There is not a whole lot of reasons that it should be used today but back in the day it was necessary. During the 1900s there was a lot of segregation going on. Civil disobedience played a huge part during that time. In “Letter From Birmingham City Jail”, Mr. King says, “Several months ago our local affiliate here in Birmingham invited us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary..” (King). In that statement he is talking about civil disobedience being performed in a nonviolent riot. There were horrible things going on to African …show more content…

In “Letter From Birmingham City Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr., he talks about how he was put in jail for peaceful protesting “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps..” (King), which is part of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience can be necessary in certain circumstances where there is absolutely no other way that things can be handled. There is not a whole lot of reasons that it should be used today but back in the day it was

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It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Both a practical and a moral answer to the Negro’s cry for justice, nonviolent direct action proved that it could win victories without losing wars, and so became the triumphant tactic of the Negro Revolution of 1963” (12). I believe that this paragraph is a perfect way to summarize what King discusses in his book. He emphasized the importance of nonviolence and his belief on it.

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The purpose of “King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail” was to say that nonviolent resistance should be used to face racism. He was criticized by white religious leaders and encouraged by blacks. King was inspired to write the letter because he was an advocate for racial equality and he felt the people writing the letter were not. He also mentioned moral responsibility to break unjust laws. Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest.

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Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or a system of laws. In the documents written by Henry Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr they clearly state their terms of just and unjust laws through a majority of appeals to emphasize the efficiency of their main idea on what civil disobedience is. Thoreau highlights his advocacy on civil disobedience in sufficient literal detail while King’s letter to the clergymen uses more examples of ethos and pathos to illuminate his main idea ultimately making his appeal more effective in my opinion. Henry Thoreau believed that the government was being unjust and he proposed the means of justice by using a more dry ethical and emotional appeal to prevail his main idea. In Civil Disobedience,

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678 Words | 3 Pages

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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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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As Oscar Wilde said, “ It is through disobedience that progress has been made-- disobedience and rebellion.” Disobedience during the American Revolution was originally peaceful, but as grievances grew and British rule became harsher, Americans could no longer sit idly by. Radical disobedience to the law was necessary in order to promote change for American society. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, a drastic nonviolent movement was necessary to counteract the expectation of violence, reiterating to Americans that peaceful resistance to laws can positively affect a free society. The Civil Rights movement was split by two factions: one was a violent resistance named The Black Panthers and the other was a nonviolent protest led by Martin Luther King Jr.

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He states that African Americans did not experience the same rights of citizenship as other Americans. King also explains why African Americans had to protest. He said that the only way to spur change was to bring attention to it. Protesting does this and only then, will people see that change is needed.

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In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

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Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King once stated in "The Letter from Birmingham Jail", "Any individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment to arouse the conscience of the community over it injustice is in reality, expressing the highest respect for the law" (King 411). King meant that, if anyone feels a law is unjust and needed to expose its injustice, should willingly accept any penalty that comes in their way to help arouse people 's conscience in changing that law. In “The Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King explains the four powerful steps of the nonviolent campaign he used to protest against racial injustice for African-Americans

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This topic is highly debatable and different people might have different opinions. People who have suffered from some form of injustice may define civil disobedience differently from others. By definition, civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with specific laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. This is important because this is when one fights through a problem without physically hurting someone. Let 's look at some examples of civil disobedience in history, "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson,

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909 Words | 4 Pages

Sit-ins were a justified act of civil disobedience during the civil rights movement because they were non-violent, they spread the news, they brought people together, and they helped people to stand up for themselves. One of the most important parts to civil disobedience is remaining non-violent. Sit-ins during the civil rights movement were great examples of remaining peaceful. There was a sit-in in Chicago that only happened because they were refused coffee.

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Individuals may have mixed opinions about civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is a good non violent way of protesting which has brought good to our country.event Such as the the Boston Tea party,where colonist dressed up as Native Americans and raided the Boston Harbor,Women's Suffrage which gave women the right to vote.and The Civil Rights Movement where Martin Luther King traveled around the world to protest for our freedom. One of the reasons why civil disobedience has been successful being a non violent protest is because of the Boston Tea Party. Colonist dressed up as Native Americans and raided american ships and dumped the tea into the boston harbor.

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After Donald Trump was elected President, there was immediate outcry from those opposed to Trump. Responses ranged from social media rants to actual violent protests across many American cities. This brings up the point of what truly differentiates “peaceful” from “non peaceful.” Civil disobedience can be defined as breaking the law, but not in a harmful way. This disobedience is a resistance to laws, but not a resistance to the discipline that follows.

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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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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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