Compare And Contrast Martin Luther King And Civil Disobedience

The idea of civil disobedience was sparked by Thoreau during which slavery was at the peak of its prevalence and most likely influenced other abolitionists like himself to act upon such things they deemed as unjust. Not only was resistance to unjustful acts relevant over 100 years ago, it sparked some of the largest movements of disobedience in the 20th and 21st century which had huge results and left a lasting

Words are the most compelling drugs used by humanity. In “Resistance to Civil Government” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Thoreau and King showed that if words are used properly in society, they can make a difference. Injustice is a huge deal for both Thoreau and King. They talked about their beliefs and told people to stand up for themselves in the government. If they really want something, they need to speak up, no matter what the consequence will be.

In his essay of Civil Disobedience, Thoreau exclaims many social issues that were going on around that time that also inspired his essay. The social issues that were going on around the time were the Relocation of the Native-Americans, which ties in with Manifest Destiny, slavery, poll taxes, Mexican-American war, and many more. Henry Thoreau didn’t believe in what the government was doing and how they were running American. Manifest Destiny was a big concept during all those times which really triggered the Domino effect with disagreement of how the Mexicans were being forced out of their territory which eventually led up to the Mexican-American

Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is a dissertation written by American abolitionist, author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau published by Elizabeth Peabody in the Aesthetic Papers in 1849. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was born and lived almost his life in Concord, Massachusetts. After finishing public and private school in Concord he attended the prestige Harvard University. He excelled at Harvard despite leaving school for several months due to health and financial setbacks. Mr. Thoreau graduated in the top half of his class in 1837.

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” and Henry David Thoreau essay “Civil Disobedience,” both share their opinions on social injustice and civil disobedience. They both believe that people can protest unfair and unjust laws imposed on them in a civil way. In addition, King and Thoreau are challenging the government with their essays, which they wrote after they got sent to jail. For protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama, King spent eleven days in jail; Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax. Both King and Thoreau’s essays present similar plans for a resolution.

In my opinion Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. have very similar purposes in their writings. Both author 's are writing to protest unfair laws. But they also have very different audiences. In Civil Disobediance, Thoreau writes how those who break unjust laws should suffer the consequences as a protest to the laws.

“Civil Disobedience” is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau about people needing to put their conscience ahead of the government rulings by criticizing American policies and beliefs. He expresses his opinion of a “government is best which governs least” (Thoreau 305) by heavily supporting his topic and by using rhetorical techniques. Rhetorical devices are used in papers for the writer to better persuade the audience or to better understand the topic they are writing about; they can also be used to play with the reader’s emotions. The rhetorical devices that have the most impact on the reader in Thoreau’s essay are allusions, rhetorical questions, pathos, imagery, and chronological narrative.

Thoreau and M.L.K Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, published in 1849, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, published in 1963, have profound similarities while still having underlying differences. The one of the most distinct similarities in “Civil Disobedience” and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is the choice of action both authors decide to use, nonviolent measures, and who they are protesting against, which is government and its actions. On the same note, both essays express the dissatisfaction in the average white citizen’s acceptance for the status quo on slavery and then segregation. For example, both essays have a strikingly similar sentence; King states, “I had hoped that the white moderate

f one followed the similarities of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," they would notice that King may have been somewhat influenced by Thoreau's essay. The two essays also have many differences that are evident throughout analysis of the two essays that divide individual interpretation of each text. But it is obvious that the overall purpose of these two essays is to persuade the audiences that civil disobedience is necessary if there is social injustice in the government that governs over people.

By analyzing both of these writings it’s almost obvious that Martin Luther King was influenced by Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” because they both use very similar writing techniques. King also described a four step to a non-violent protest, and the first one is to collect facts to determine whether an injustice law exists. This relates to Thoreau’s critique of an unjust government because Thoreau believed that every machine had

Both men stood for something they did not believe in, cruel and unjust treatment and being asked to pay taxes on something you don't see reason in. Thoreau and Dr. King provide these methods of protest to further support their disagreements with authority. The methods were non-violent and yet the government unjustly imprisoned both activists and further mistreated King and his protesters. As Thoreau declared, “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison” (Thoreau

In the Crito by Plato, Socrates argues against civil disobedience, seeing it as an unjust act. Contrasting this view, Martin Luther King argues for civil disobedience against unjust laws, and seeing it as a responsibility of citizens. Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain law, commands or requests of the government. I will argue that the view of Socrates is superior to the view of Martin Luther King on the justness of civil disobedience. Using the argument against harm, I will show that even if a law is viewed as unjust, you must not repay an evil with another evil, as evident in the Crito while contrary to ideas presented by MLK. I will also show that civil disobedience is an action in which it is probable that anarchy will

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi once said, “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.” What Gandhi is saying is that nonviolence is a stronger force than using destructive tools like guns or explosives. He is saying you can achieve your goals without the need to use violence like harming innocent people or causing chaos and havoc. Historical figures like Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela used non-violence civil disobedience Although non-violent civil disobedience is the best way to bring change to an unjust system, it is not always successful.

During this day I believe that I would take up Martin Luther King's view on civil disobedience as my own because I see just how he said that not all laws that are legal are just. I believe that not all that is made law is just for all people but only make it just for the majority. King view on civil disobedience is more suitable for this day and age that why people would try to follow his example if they would have to take up civil disobedience.

Martin Luther King Martin Luther King harped on civil disobedience for any moral arguments. Treating citizens differently based on skin color was nefarious, King wished to speak out to change but insisted on non-violent acts to do so. He expressed his thoughts in the “I Have a Dream” speech publically in a passive fashion. This passionate, positive and encouraging speech flourished King’s views and changed the American government’s unjust laws.