Martin Luther King Jr

             Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail on April 16, 1963. During this short time in prison he wrote a lengthy letter in response to a public letter from a group of eight clergymen who opposed the non-violent demonstrations that King had lead. The letter, more commonly known as the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" basically consisted of King's arguments, answers, and reasons to the many issues going on in the 60's. In this essay I'm going to fairly summarize one of King's main arguments, present a possible counter-argument, and then finish off with a discussion of both the arguments.
             In "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King Jr. brings up the issue of laws. He claims "that there are two types of laws: just and unjust" (King 320) and that one has a moral responsibility to both obey just laws and disobey unjust laws. He agrees with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." (King 320) He uses many definitions of the two types of laws to show that just laws are moral and unjust laws are immoral. Some of the main definitions of the two laws he uses are "a just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God" (King 320) and that an "unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law." (King 320) Another pair of definitions he uses are "an unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority to obey but does not make binding on itself" (King 321) and "a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself." (King 321) He finishes his argument by explaining that one who decides to "break an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty." (King 321)
             Now to present a possible counter-argument to Martin Luther King Jr.'s claim that ther...

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Martin Luther King Jr. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 06:22, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/81323.html