Civil Disobedience Unjust

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Civil disobedience as a way to resist unjust laws positively impacts a free society. Why? For three, simple reasons: it's mandatory when looking to achieve equality, it's a moral responsibility of the citizens, and it has always been a part of the democratic process. People who honestly seek change understand this, and will use peaceful resistance a means of achieving their goals. Throughout American history, and even beyond American history, change has come through peaceful resistance. They earnestly seek justice that is fair and honest to bring about much needed change. Equality is characterized as the state of being the same as something, or valued at the same level. In his letter to Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed what it means to achieve equality, "One may well ask: 'How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?'. The answer lies in the facter that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One …show more content…
It taught us the importance of the democratic process and what it means to have a role in government. The democratic process also teaches us the importance of civil disobedience through the amending of laws. According to the United States Constitution, the purpose of American democracy is to provide economic opportunity, equal rights, and upward mobility for those who earn it. These things are guaranteed to each and every citizen regardless of background. Specifically, the democratic process is a government considerate of humanity by allowing the changing of laws according to the people. However, this cannot be so if a group in this equal society is being treated unfairly, thus the idea of civil disobedience is. The democratic process alone teaches us not only when to peacefully resist unjust laws, but how to change them to have an everlasting impact for the future and generations to

Disobedience In Antigone: Unjust Law, And Civil Rights

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” If Martin Luther King Jr. and countless others had not protested during the Civil Right movement there would still be segregation and inequality. Without a doubt, there are times when it is justifiable to break a law in a democratic society. If rights are being denied, if the majority feel it is an unjust law, or even if the minorities (being that they are experts on the subject) feel it is wrong as well. Despite…

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Civil Disobedience

To fully understand the meaning of civil disobedience first we would have to say that the meaning of civil disobedience is the denial to obey certain laws or pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. The concept of civil disobedience evolved from the idea that there are laws of the state that don't secure citizens. This concept evolved over a long period of time and was grasped from different types of cultures. The act of civil disobedience was most effective in the twentieth…

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Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Jail" were civil disobedience, unjust law and a just law. Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Alabama. There he writes "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which advocated nonviolent civil disobedience. One of the greatest letters ever written. After being jailed in Birmingham Ala. Dr. King responds to 8 clergymen and preachers who criticized his civil disobedience. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King, defending civil disobedience, cited Augustine…

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Civil Disobedience In America

Joseph Raz, John Rawls, and Martin Luther King’s interpretations of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws or commands of a government; it is a symbolic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of the system as a whole. I shall argue that the protestors in Ferguson, Baltimore and other places where riots have emerged, do not have a duty to obey the law; civil disobedience is justified among the individuals protesting against police brutality…

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Just And Unjust Laws Essay

There are times that civil disobedience may become necessary, such as when a law goes against someone's religious beliefs or morals, especially if they decide to take a non-violent route and are trying to communicate and change it. There are also just and unjust laws. “How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St…

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Letter From Birmingham Jail Essay

“Letter from A Birmingham Jail” was written by Martin Luther King Jr. on April 16th, 1963. He wrote this letter during his 13th arrest after fighting for American Civil rights, and shared his thoughts about just and unjust laws during his time period. Henry David Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience” to all people to gain knowledge about how the government is not useful and more importantly to concentrate on a person’s conscience over the dictates of laws. Both historical figures are trying to get their…

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Thoreau's Use Of Peaceful Resistance To Civil Disobedience

to be an agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.” These words and Henry Thoreau’s larger essay “civil disobedience” helped to inspire other reformers such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi to use peaceful resistance of unjust laws, in their own fights against injustices. But how does such acts of resistance impact a free society. If resistance to an unjust law results in the abolition of that form of injustice, then freedom in the society will be advanced, but if such…

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The Benefits Of Civil Disobedience

Throughout the course of history one group's go against another's. Civil Disobedience is a necessary moral obligation we need to protest the unjust, such as Dr.KIng did for equality, without going to extremes, such as Gandhi did by not rioting in order to gain India's independence. Why? What would drive a human to go against others of its own kind. Imagine your daughter running up to you with red, hot tears asking why she cant go to the new playground built right down the street, because the Jim…

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How Did Jim Crow Laws Shaped The Civil Rights Movement?

was built on. After the end of the Civil War, and the freeing of the African American slaves, laws were created that stripped their rights that should have be guaranteed. Jim Crow laws were created and enforced to form two separate societies, White and African American. Schools, transportation, water fountains, etc. were all segregated. To put an ended to the injustices in the United States, a remarkable movement began with simple civil disobedience. The Civil Rights Movement began in the 1950's…

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Similarities Between Thoreau And King

Justice, according to dictionary.com, means to act or treat justly or fairly. The issue at hand is whether or not justice exists for everyone. While many great leaders and thinkers such as Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King tied in morality with justice, it contributes to the idea that if an act is committed and has moral reasoning behind it, it should be justified. Both Thoreau and King argue that it should be justified to disobey government if, as citizens, we feel it is corrupt. It is…

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