Henry David Thoreau vs. Martin Luther King There are times throughout the history of the United States when its citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government. The two essays, “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau, and “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., effectively illustrate the authors’ opinions of justice. Each author has his main point; Thoreau, in dealing with justice as it relates to government, asks for “not …showed first 75 words of 1959 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1959 total…was a known person of religion. While Dr. King preached about God and the Bible and what is right according to it, Thoreau used the Constitution and politics as his. Thoreau asks of the Governor, "What has he been about the last fortnight? Has he had as much as he could do to keep on the fence during this moral earthquake?" Again, Thoreau uses powerful rhetoric to convince the audience that the system is flawed.