There have been times in the history of the United States when its citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government. The two essays, "Civil Disobedience," by Henry David Thoreau, and "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," by Martin Luther King, Jr., effectively illustrate the authors' opinions of justice. Each author has their main point; Thoreau, in dealing with justice-related to government, asks for "not at once no government, but at once a better government. King contends that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Both essays offer a complete argument for justice.
             Thoreau wrote "Civil Disobedience" in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could reform unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An expression of the individual's liberty to create change ."Thoreau felt that the government had established an order that resisted reform and change. "Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary."
             Thoreau refused to pay the poll tax because the money was used to finance the Mexican War. Thoreau was against the war itself, but the war was over Texas, which was to be used as a slave state. His friend offered to pay the tax for him, but it wasn't the tax he objected to Thoreau; it was how the money would be used. He believed strongly against paying money to a war he did not support and would instead end up in jail than go against his will. A certain passage shows how strong he felt when he said, "Your money is your life; why should I haste to give it my money?". It was essential to Thoreau to get the public informed about the war and make people think why it was wrong to support it. Thoreau didn't rally hundreds and thousands of people together to get reactions. Instead...