By this time, slavery is a very hotly debated issue in America, even eventually leading to the Civil War. Thoreau obviously takes the position against slavery and tries to use his writing to try and convince the citizens of America to stand up against slavery and the laws that protect it. Thoreau often writes of the injustice that the government displays towards its people. For example, Thoreau writes, “Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?” (184). Thoreau’s purpose is to convince the citizens of America to not follow the majority, but do what is felt to be morally right.
Martin Luther King, one of the most well known civil rights leaders in America, believed that some laws during his lifetime were unjust in nature and were acceptable to ignore based on ones conscience. Henry David Thoreau also believed that unjust laws were to be resisted or ignored. While Thoreau was the first American to define and use civil disobedience as a means of protest, King expanded upon it in his letter from Birmingham jail, implementing nonviolence and practical application into the traditional American protest. Henry David Thoreau believed that, “That government is best, which governs least.” Also, while Thoreau had wished for no government, he acknowledged the fact that it was logically impossible and that the government only exists because the people allow it to exist; Thoreau states, “The government does not keep the country free. It does not settle the west.
A major difference was that Gandhi campaigned against unjust laws of the British government, while Martin Luther King Jr. campaigned for rights that "colored" people were already lawfully supposed to have. For instance, according to the U.S. government, all people, regardless of skin color, had the equal right of suffrage, but many racists refused to accept this and attacked non-whites when they attempted to vote. Gandhi fought British oppression with
Thomas Aquinas and Jewish philosopher Martin Buber Martin Luther King, Jr. handily faces the question of how he could on one hand urge people to follow the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation in the public schools, and yet on the other urge men to disregard segregational laws. Dr. King had a fresh take on a conservative view towards the nature of law. A law that is true and just is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. He then lays out a much more concrete example of unjust for the recipients of this letter to consider: “An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal.
His idea of slavery had changed very much by the time he wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Unfortunately, not everyone saw slavery from the same moral standpoint. Only a month after being published, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was banned by a library in Massachusetts, and many more did the same. Some white people who were not abolitionists immediately tagged it as trash and an attack on their beliefs, even though slavery had been abolished for a while by then. Blacks often thought of it as racist, even though it was generally accepted as an attack against racism.
April 12, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for leading a prohibited protest. During his imprisonment he decided to write a letter from Birmingham jail to respond to a public statement of concern. In his letter he discreetly describes why he concluded into direct action and the purpose of his action. Martin Luther King decided to go to Birmingham in a call for help. In addition king went to Birmingham because the injustices were incredulous and segregated.
Examples included voting rights and citizenship, and the founders passed this to the states to decide. According to Bowles, 2011, American History 1865 to present End of Isolation, though slavery was the underlying reason for the war, another central debate was the rights of states versus the powers of the federal government. While Republicans were strongly in favor of a stronger federal government, Johnson opposed this direction and wanted states to have more power, includ¬ing the southern states. Which basically meant, more blacks in the government ; Johnson disapproved. As Johnson and Congress wres¬tled with these issues, their clash came to somewhat of a head with a disagreement over the Freedman’s Bureau.
Oxholm 1 Olivia Oxholm Cole AP Lang October 7, 2012 Civil Disobedience and Letter From A Birmingham Jail Comparison In writing Civil Disobedience , Thoreau attempts to motivate the American people to change. He stresses the responsibility of citizens to protest and take action against corrupt and unjust laws of the government. His angry disposition is obvious from the beginning through the fact that he chooses to start with the statement that “government is best which governs least” and takes it a step further to say that “government is best which governs not at all”. Meaning, that the most ideal form of government is one that enforces the least amount of power over its people. As for Martin Luther King Jr., he also writes to show
Summary Response-Letter from the Birmingham Jail In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. describes the current states of injustice and inequality that plague the Negro community during this time as he is writing from his jail cell. He writes to his fellow supporters and brothers and explains the reasons for being in Birmingham in the first place were because he felt it was necessary to protest injustice everywhere. Communities such as Birmingham were known to observe segregation laws that isolated black people from white people and in his opinion were classified as unjust laws. He claims to be a supporter of just laws and a non-violent protestor of unjust laws in which violate human morals and dignity. By citing references of protest such as Jesus Christ, St. Paul, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, he justifies his current actions for the Negro community and states that he is willing to face the consequences when it comes to protesting for equal rights amongst all Americans.
Martin Luther King Jr. on the other hand, sticks with his father’s Baptist. Even though both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. fought for civil rights, their ideas and approaches were different. Malcolm X believed in using any mean necessary to achieve rights for African Americans. He did not think that white and black should be integrate as he believes that such action lowers the pride of black and the value of their history. King had a different approach.