Martin Luther King’s (Mlk) “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Argument Analysis

Martin Luther King Jr. expresses his views for obeying “Just” laws, while disregarding “Unjust” laws because of moral purposes. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Dr. King speaks on how he “Urge people to obey laws,” as well as “urge them to disobey segregation ordinances”. “I agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Dr. King’s reason for following certain laws and not others is because he believes there are two types of laws. Just laws are beneficial to all races and “Is the man-made code that squares with the moral law or the Law of God”, unjust laws neglects certain human races needs and personalities and “Is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.” Dr. King does not disapprove Supreme Court decisions, yet if it involves segregation he feels as though it “Distorts the soul and damages the personality.” Dr. King states, “Segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, it is also morally wrong and sinful.” At this point, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is past describing how segregation affects people, but is now saying how segregation for example affects the political system such as denying Negroes the right to vote. “Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters.” Negroes make up the majority population in the counties of Alabama “Not a single Negro is

For the value of righteous justice Dr. King made it a point to express his respect for the law and his desire to obey the law. Then, he added clarification as to why some laws were unjust. He stressed that any law that was morally wrong and in good conscience could not be followed should be broken only with love and being

Many times, disagreements fail to bring an understanding to opposing sides because each side has different views on the subject at hand. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attempts to establish an adequate definition of “just” and “unjust” laws. King knew he could not directly argue his beliefs of segregation because the clergymen made clear they were not impressed with anti-segregationists breaking the law. He knew in order to make a valid rebuttal he could not cause confrontation. What is most interesting about the letter is the style of writing King uses to argue for righteousness which compels the reader to share his views of anti-segregation.

King categorizes law into two types: just and unjust. He describes a just law as a “man-made code” that falls in line with moral law while an unjust law is one that deviates from moral law. King claims that just laws can uplift people while unjust ones degrade them. In stating these ideas, King provides his audience with his own definition of what laws are and what they can do. The reader can now apply this definition to attain a better understanding of King’s ideology and better connect with King’s larger purpose of the letter. King also examines laws that in method are fair but in practice are oppressive. This helps make his definition be more complete by presenting a multitude of ways a law can be unjust. He shows that laws can be unjust in writing and in application. King explains his criteria for just and unjust laws in order to move his argument forward in answering the criticisms of his fellow clergymen.

Furthermore, King connects with his audience when he criticizes the unjust segregation laws. When accused of having a desire to break laws, King immediately disproves that theory by agreeing with their concern, and then discusses the difference between just and unjust laws. He quotes St. Thomas Aquinas faultlessly when he states his thoughts on law: "Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality" (222). He continues to say that a person has a "moral responsibility" (221) to refuse to comply with unjust laws, as well as having an obligation to obey just laws. His statement forces his readers to put themselves in his shoes and think of their moral responsibility to stand up against unjust laws regardless of

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a key figure in the civil rights movements that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is an open letter written by King defending nonviolent resistance against racism. The letter argued that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust and unethical laws. The letter also stresses themes of unity among brothers in order to overcome racism. I will argue in support of King’s stance that citizens are morally justified in breaking unjust laws and that openly and responsibly opposing unjust laws is itself a duty of every citizen.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was a powerful and eloquent letter that effectively argued the point that segregation is fundamentally unjust and should be fought with nonviolent protest. This letter, through describing the injustice taking place during the civil rights movement also provided some insight about Dr. King’s view of the government in the 1960s. Three mains themes present in Dr. King’s letter were religion, injustice, and racism.

As a result of racist laws that forced blacks to be segregated and refused them their right to peacefully protest, Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960’s, was considered the most racist part of the United States and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked towards removing segregation laws from being enforced. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. publicly addressed the issue of racism on a religious, political, and social aspect by addressing his letter to the clergymen, disobeying the law through nonviolent civil disobedience, and expressing disappointment when he did not receive support from the white moderate, respectively. Advocating against the extreme racial injustice in Birmingham, Dr. King’s support of St. Augustine’s belief that “an unjust law is no law at all” caused a controversial debate across the country over who has the authority to decide which laws should be disobeyed (King 3). Although Dr. King addressed his letter to the white clergymen, his target audience was to the entire white moderate of the country whom he hoped would help him gain support in order to change unjust laws that promote segregation and refuse citizens of their First Amendment rights to a peaceful protest (King 4). Dr. King was looking for support from other members of society in order to create an effective change in society’s ethics. Moreover, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s large audience and public movement used nonviolent

Martin Luther King Jr., was a civil rights activist who spoke freely about civil disobedience in the Letter from Birmingham Jail while he was locked up for civilly disobeying the law. He was writing to eight white clergymen that also felt that many of the laws were unjust, however they showed agreement with Socrates by stating that he should not disobey the laws. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “one has a moral responsibility to disobey just laws because if we did not disobey them then unjust acts would continue to occur, causing our country to be harmed”. He also stated that “an unjust law is no law at all”. Martin Luther King Jr. did believe that laws were setup and enforced to assist and support the residents of the state however, if a law was unfair or unconstitutional, then the law would

Martin Luther King’s views came from his letter that he wrote in jail. That letter was called “Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.].” In this letter, he talks about the law's, justification, and nonviolent. Martin Luther King claims that there are two types of laws just and unjust laws. He believes in the just laws, and he would be one of the first to follow them. Also that an individual has a right and a moral right to perform these just laws as well. There is a difference between just and unjust laws. A Just law is made code that contains moral law and or the law of the God. While the unjust law is a law that doesn’t include any moral law.

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by imprisoned civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr, King responds to eight white religious leaders who criticized the timing of his demonstrations with the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in Birmingham. King’s purpose is to justify why the the activists could wait no longer to take “direct action” against the unjust segregation in Birmingham. King effectively uses tone, cause and effect, and examples to defend the actions of the activists against the city of Birmingham and appeal to the logic of his audience.

In Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, he used logic, ethics, and emotion to get his point across. In paragraph twenty-two of King’s letter, he describes how not law that is put in place is morally acceptable. He used the comparison of the Holocaust, and how it was legal for Adolf Hitler to kill over 6 million innocent people, but how it wasn’t morally acceptable. At the time Hitler’s actions were considered legal, although it targeted one specific race.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister, activist and leader in the civil rights movement. He was inspired by the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. Though they were nonviolent and pacifist, Gandhi and King were justified in breaking the law. In the articles “Excerpt from Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “Text from Letter to Viceroy, Lord Irwin” Gandhi and king were known to feel that the laws are legal, but not just and that the threat of violence cannot be used to limit freedom of speech.

By this statement King proved that in its application an unjust law can oppose a just law. Nevertheless, in this circumstance the just law is the First-Amendment right to peaceful assembly and protest and the unjust law prohibits one group of people from obtaining this right as a citizen of the United States of America. From this point King's appeal to reason carefully merges into an appeal to character.

In society, the law is broken daily by thousands of different people from different social classes, races, and genders. For many, they deserve to be reprimanded. However, our justice system has put in place many unjust laws that have incarcerated many innocent people. This begs the question of whether or not a law is just or unjust. When reading Antigone and learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we see how people are treated when they simply try to fight for justice and for their beliefs. Many people mean no harm, like MLK who just wanted equality. Unfortunately, many people do not have the power to fight against an authority without repercussions. In the cases of Antigone and MLK, they were both hindered by an aspect of their physical appearance including gender and race, respectively. While Antigone fought for her personal justice and Dr. Martin Luther King Kr. fought for the justice of those around him, they both struggled against an unjust higher power to attain what they believed to be morally right.