Majority rule and power essays

Majority rule and power essays When looking at the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. in, A Letter From a Birmingham Jail and Henry David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience, one finds that each man takes a somewhat different approach to delivering a message, but the messages are in fact similar, as both call for a drastic change to majority rule. Both men share the desire for universal justice and they feel majority rule prevents this, as too small of a number of individuals can make unjust laws that affect a large portion of the population. Majority and minority are two terms that King and Thoreau use in their writing's, but their definition of each differs slightly. King sees himself as a part of a minority in the fact that, him being black prevents him from having equal rights under the laws of the United States of America. Thoreau sees himself as a minority because he does not have a say as to the actions of the United States government that is suppose to represent him and he is supposed to support. Both men call for action and use themselves as a model for how to take action. The motive for both Thoreau's and King's writing is based on race and how the United States government does not represent all of its' citizens. The issue of race is more at the forefront of King's writing, while proper (or improper) representation by the government is more of the issue that Thoreau looks at, with race as a key point. One of the few significant differences in both men's attempt to persuade the citizen's of the United States that their government does represent all men, is the level at which each protest. King's protest is grander in the form a large march, while Thoreau prefers to do his protesting on an individual level by not adhering to an unjust law and refusing to pay his taxes. Both men believe in accepting full responsibility for their action and all repercussions that come with their actions. This is evident by the fact that both men spent time in jail for t...