Evaluation of "Letter from Birmingham Jail" & "Resistance to Civil Government"

Evaluation of "Letter from Birmingham Prison" & & "Resistance to Civil government" Both passages "Letter from Birmingham Prison" and "Resistance to Civil federal government" have the exact same general purpose which was the concept of Civil disobedience, not concurring with the law due to the fact that it breaches one's morality or inner conscience belief. In the "Letter from Birmingham Prison" Martin Luther King describes his reasoning for why he struck back the law and the concept of protesting without violence.

Henry David Theoreau recognizes the unjustified ways of the federal government and the issues of slavery.

The tone that Theoreau utilizes seems to be more exacerbated and anger driven than that of King, who expresses the problems using a less severe tone and not as many amusing remarks. In King's passage, his tone is more deep and individual, speaking on a level representing the African American community and the hardships that they go through. In Theoreau's passage, he uses a less individual approach and utilizes more accurate based things and using grim paradox describing that what is being done is the opposite of what America was founded on, he goes on to state "Must the citizen ever for a minute, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we ought to be males first, and subjects later" This resembles King's quote "The answer lies in the reality that there are two types of laws: simply and unjustified.

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I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all.”. King also explains his reasoning for his actions, for the revolutions and rebellion for the sake of the rights that all men are created equal and should be treated that way in America, because that is what is stated in the constitution and what the Christian faith is.