Morality of the Law
Civil disobedience is the resistance to unjust laws. Henry David Thoreau sparked this revelation when he wrote "Civil Disobedience." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used many of the ideas of Thoreau to expand on the ideas of civil disobedience when he wrote "Letter From Birmingham City Jail." Henry David Thoreau and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. both used civil disobedience as a way to improve the law and require society to abide by higher morals, but in today's society civil disobedience is used solely to change unjust laws while society lowers their moral standards to that of the law.Thoreau wrote "Civil Disobedience" in response to the American involvement in the Mexican War as well as the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. He viewed them both as immoral and wrong and he believed that if the law "is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law" (Thoreau). Thoreau felt this "agent of injustice" to be America against Mexico in the Mexican War, as well as the slaveholder against his or her slaves by the Fugitive Slave Act. He went so far as to reject the United States government as his government by saying "I cannot for an instance recognize t
Some examples of actions that are legally but not morally right include the use of radar detectors and sex before or outside of marriage. King also said that "an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law" (King). Even though he did not physically do anything to stop the Mexican War or the Fugitive Slave Act, Thoreau did refuse to pay a poll tax and spent a night in jail to speak out against the Mexican War and the Fugitive Slave Act. This belief that one must break an unjust law and accept the punishment is the main tenet of civil disobedience. King influenced change of unjust laws. King who changed the law for the better in the past. King quoted Saint Augustine and agreed that "an unjust law is no law at all" (King). hat political organization as my government which is the slave's government also" (Thoreau). This support for involvement in such immoral acts and laws showed the morality level of the people. Similarly as Thoreau did many years past, Dr.
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Acceptance Essays
