Letter from a Birmingham Jail and The Declaration of Individualism :: Letter from Birmingham Jail

Letter from a Birmingham Jail and The Declaration of Individualism         Although the time periods and goals may be contrastive the method forbringing about change is usually the same, this method is aver.   This methodis supported by two different people, in two different time periods, with twodifferent goals these two people atomic number 18 Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther KingJunior.        Martin Luther King Juniors letter from a Birmingham Jail was anexpression of his encouragement for protest against tradition and establishedlaws and a justification for his actions.   King, a leader of a civil-rightsgroup that supported protest against traditional views, encouraged protestingagainst tradition and established laws that be unjust.  In his letter fromBirmingham Jail King states It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitlers Germany.  Even so, I amsure that, had I lived in Germany at that time, I would have aided and comfortedmy Jewish brothers.  If today I lived in a communist country where certainprinciples dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocatedisobeying that countrys anti-religious laws. This excerpt shows that King encourages protest because in some situations hedeems it necessary, be it in Hitlers Germany, a Communist country, or anysituation in which injustices are occurring.  In the last sentence of theexcerpt King openly admits that he would protest against established laws ortraditions.  King was against the traditional views and unjust laws, whichdiscriminated against him and his fellow people.  He felt that the only way thatthese unjust laws and traditional beliefs would ever change would be by federal agencyof protest.  He felt that without protest the laws and traditions would remainthe same forever.  Along with encouraging protest, Kings letter was also ajustification of his actions.&nb sp The letter was written to his fellow clergymen to rationalize his prior actions and to attempt to justify them.  In the letter hetried to explain to the clergy that his actions although illegal were justifiedand appropriate for the situation.  He expressed that he faltering every otheroption possible and direct action was the only available option left, whichcould make a difference.      Similarly to Kings letter from Birmingham Jail, The Declaration of emancipation was written by Thomas Jefferson to encourage the protest ofestablished laws and justify possible actions.  But unlike King, Jefferson alsoencouraged individualism in his declaration.  His views are distinctly stated inthe first sentence of The Declaration of Independence When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people todissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to