Declaration of Independence and Letter from Birmingham Jail Essay

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter while incarcerated in Birmingham jail to

In Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham jail”, King talks about his imprisonment for his involvement in a nonviolent protest and defends his rights and moral grounds for organizing nonviolent protest activities. In this essay, I will look at his views on nonviolent protest and how they differ from todays violent protests.

On April 16, 1963, from a jail in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr. composed an extensive letter to eight clergymen who condemned the timing of the civil rights movement. Although the letter was addressed to these eight clergymen, the Letter from Birmingham Jail speaks to a national audience, especially King’s “Christian and Jewish brothers”(King, 29). His peaceful but firm letter serves as a remarkably persuasive voice to an immensely chaotic mess, and is seen as a major turning point in the civil rights movement. King believes that without direct action, the full rights for African Americans could never be achieved. He defends the impatience of people in the civil rights movement, upholding that without forceful

Given these points connecting similarities and differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Letter from Birmingham Jail, this brings me into my main point about how the roles reversed. There was a role reversal as time went on in American history. Originally, it was the white population of America that was being oppressed but 340 years later, African Americans were the ones being oppressed by the white people for reasons that were far worse than those of which white people were being oppressed for originally. African Americans had to face unjust laws depriving them of their inalienable rights, they faced violence (lynching, burning, shootings) and exclusion from public goods and services. Furthermore, we still see common issues

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson exposes the British King of his tyrannical antics toward the colonies to his readers.

Anyone can determine for themselves if they believe a law is unjust or just. In "Civil Disobedience" and "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King use different techniques in order to show their own opinions on injustice in the government. The government decides whether a law is reasonable, however what if people of the public disagree with the morality of such law ? Should they act against it? Thoreau and King both make it clear that it is important to speak out against injustice.Though they both conveys their philosophy on civil disobedience in many similar ways, they had differences in the techniques they used in their essays, such as their approach to their appeals, audience and tone.

In 1963, Martin Luther King was confined in Birmingham because of his participation in protesting. During this time, there was segregation which enjoined African Americans from utilizing particular areas or any type of accommodations in all. King wrote a letter in replication to the eight white clergymen that reprehended King 's actions. In the "Letter from Birmingham jail," King bulwarks the lawfulness of protesting, transgressing the law in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation and racism. The major premise of this argument is that all laws that devalue the human disposition are inequitable. The white clergymen who conveyed objection to King 's actions felt that his actions transgressed the law and caused chaos. King argues that the laws of the segregated south are inequitable and should not be accepted or followed. King breaks the difference between God 's laws and discriminatory man-made laws that oppress the Black race and how he is obligated to fight against those types of laws. The more diminutive premises here are that the laws of segregation devalue the ebony man/woman character.

Thomas Jefferson was a founding father and the writer of the Declaration of Independence. His beliefs on freedom and unalienable rights are what lead us to our independence. His arguments for breaking away from the king of England include the repeated petitions by the colonists, the quartering of slaves in homes, and the certain unalienable rights which are given to every man upon birth, among other things. Thomas Jefferson uses logos, ethos, his mastery of the English language, and diction to make his position clear to the colonists and to the world.

Race. It is a word that is associated with many thoughts, words, and emotions. The color of peoples' skin is the first thing that is noticed. Throughout history people have judged and mistreated because they were of the wrong  race. A prime example of this is the racial tension between blacks and whites. The driving force behind this tension is the past. For many years blacks were mistreated and abused based solely on the color of the skin. In Martin Luther King J.R.'s "Letter from Birmingham  Jail", he uses references to the past and people of the past to strengthen his point. The actions in the past and present can affect the future.

A way King tried to convey the end of inequality was through direct actions. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King states: "So must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood" (Mandell, 414). This illustrates his concept of direct action in order to communicate to the community the need to end inequality. King’s approach of direct action shows him taking a stance of the inequality of African Americans.

This sample of Dr. King's writing is from an extremely contested point in American history. He wrote this letter from a jail cell in Birmingham where he was roughly placed after the peaceful protests for human rights that took place in the city in April of 1963. He was responding to an article in a paper from some of his fellow clergymen who denounced his actions in the city calling them untimely and unwise. The response penned by Dr. King in his cell is a lengthy one, written full of emotion in an attempt to show these so called fellow Christians the folly of their thinking. They accused him of being an extremest in his spreading of the message of love and acceptance in the segregationist south of the time. They accused him of leading a movement

The essay “Letter From Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King Jr., and “Civil disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau have much in common. They both talk about what to do under circumstances when laws are unjust. Although they do have many things in common they do also have several differences: one major one being how the time difference has an impact on the subject. Both of these essays written by two notable figures in society shed a different light on their stance in politics, and shows the reader that you can do things to fight for what you believe in.

Segregation, discrimination, and racism still happens today; however, it’s not as direct as it was in 1963. In 1963, Birmingham,Alabama was one of the most segregated cities in America. While confined in jail, King wrote a letter in response to eight white ministers who wrote “A Call for Unity”, that explained how they wanted King to stop protesting, and to just wait for justice. In the “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr., a fellow clergyman and civil rights activist, writes to eight white ministers to comparing his shared values to those of the audience, arguing about the extent of segregation, and familiarizing the audience about how African Americans have been victims of a broken promise.

Both “On the duty of Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King,Jr., respond to the relationship between the government and its people. They both address the same topics, yet they approach it using different methods. Thoreau and King add first-hand experiences from their lives as well as cries for the resolution of nationwide racial discrimination within their writings. They also use their writings to speak their concerns to different audiences.

King uses a “peace and love” style of protest. The letter which king wrote (King) defends his strategy to a nonviolent resistance to racism. He answers the forces of hatred with nonviolent resistance in the pursuit of what he called the "beloved community." (Kasson). He also insisted that nonviolent direct resistance was not a surrender but a “spiritually strenuous confrontation of injustice and oppression”. In this process, however, protesters aimed not "to defeat or humiliate their opponents, but to win their friendship and understanding." As King tirelessly insisted, "The end is redemption and reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness”. “I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know you love them. For what we are doing is right. What we are doing is just. And God is with us" (Kasson). By using an approach of