Unjust Laws Essay Research Paper
СОДЕРЖАНИЕ: Unjust Laws Essay, Research Paper April 4, 2000 Unjust Law ?It is not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong? Are laws to be enforced simply because they were made or declared by any number of men to be good, if they are not good…What kind of laws for free men can you expect from that? …Christ was crucified….Unjust Laws Essay, Research Paper
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April 4, 2000
Unjust Law
?It is not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong? Are laws to be enforced simply because they were made or declared by any number of men to be good, if they are not good…What kind of laws for free men can you expect from that? …Christ was crucified…. Captain Brown was hung. These are two ends of a chain, which is not missing its links.
-Henry David Thoreau
What is this link in the chain of life?s history? It is discontent with unjust laws – cruel and unjust laws enforced by no less cruel and unjust men. But, men through the ages have made known what kind of government commands the respect of freedom loving people. Thoreau wrote in his essay, ?Civil Disobedience? that ?all men recognize that the right of revolution…the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable,?
This paper will show that as man protested against and exposed unjust laws, he left his mark on the future?s destiny. Problems were solved in religion, race relationships, and taxation. Leaders were produced who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base on which others could follow.
Although the chain is long. I will begin with Moses. Moses led the people enslaved by the Hebrews in Egypt to freedom. He followed his conscious and rebuked the laws of his adopted father who also was the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses disobeyed the government, but his legacy live today. His great and noble deeds in behalf of freedom of an enslaved people and ?The Ten Commandments? given to him by God on Mt. Sinai have been continuously taught the world over up to the present year. Moses? link on the chain of civil disobedience dictates how we live today.
Jesus, the founder of ?Christianity?, preached against the dictatorship and ceremonial observance of the Jewish law of the Herodians and the Sanhedrin. Jesus preached for repentance of sin, denial of worship to pagan and idol gods and the virtues of charity, faith, and humility. Jesus was arrested and condemned to death by the chief Jewish tribunal, the Sanhedrin. He was executed along with the other criminals. Nevertheless, Jesus? legacy lives on as a blueprint on how to live.
Yet, tyranny and unjust laws have continued through the years. Thoreau wrote in ?The Captain?s Plea for John Brown.?
?We talk about a representative government; but what a monster of a government is that when the noblest faculties of the mind, and the whole heart, are not represented …The only government to which all the truly brave and just men…. are enemies, standing between it and those whom it oppresses. A government that pretends to be Christian and crucifies Christ everyday.?
We see the above in the light of history. In the French Revolution men like Baron deMontesquien in The Spirit of Laws advocated the separation of power with ?checks and balances? in government and uncompromising defense of liberty against tyranny. Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contrast wrote ?man is born free, but today is everywhere in chains?. Just as in France, The American Revolution pursued the ideals of ?liberty and equality? in repudiating the traditional government. Yet these same colonists who claimed to be Christians and followers of the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Jesus held men in bondage as chattel.
Great men arose in the defense of the slaves, John Brown being on of them. The United States of America was formed on the principles of ?separation of power? and ?liberty and equality?. Yet the white Christians only meant ?liberty and equality? for the whites. During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine said, ?Give me liberty or give me death?. He was applauded and deemed a hero; yet when the Black chattels or an abolitionist such as John Brown cried the same for freedom of the slaves they were called insane and charged with insurrection and treason. John Anthony Copeland a Black slave hanged along with Brown said, ?If I am dying for freedom, I could not die for a better cause – I had rather die than be a slave.? The ruling government hanged him. On the other hand Nathan Hale had said earlier during the Revolution, ?I regret that I have only one life to lose for my country.? The same government hailed him a hero. Thoreau summed it up when he said, ?The modern Christian is a man who…shows the white of his eyes on the Sabbath, and the blacks all the rest of the week.?
The above shows two diverse attitudes toward civil disobedience. On the one hand the ruling government instills the philosophical doctrine of liberty and equality for themselves, while one the other hand, they placed harsh and stringent laws into effect which denied Black America equal rights. It took men such as Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP to battle for equal rights for Blacks in the United States Supreme Court. With every win, it took James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality to test the enforcement and re-enforcement of the non-discrimination by using ?sit-ins? at lunch counters and ?freedom rides? on public transportation. It was only this disobedience of the unjust laws that ended discrimination and segregation for Blacks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Organization had to illuminate the injustices with marches.
In conclusion, these men, Moses, Lafayette, Montesquien, Rosseau, Thomas Paine, Thurgood Marshall, Farmer and Dr. King in their fight against unjust laws taught us how to live. Jesus and men like John Brown and John Copeland in their death taught us how to die for our right and freedom. John Brown said, ?the reason why such greatly superior numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, because they lacked a cause – a kind of armor which he and his party lacked.? So it is with all men who fought a government who implement unjust laws.
In the face of history, unjust law exists. Men have fought against them, but just as Thoreau said in Civil Disobedience ?Why does it resist before it is hurt…Why does it always crucify Christ, and ex-communicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels or jail a King or Farmer before realizing their errors. From Jesus to the men who protested against the unjust laws, they left their mark on the future?s destiny. They solved problems of race relations, taxations without representation and they produced leaders who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base for which others could build.
English 200/Adv CompJoy
April 4, 2000
Unjust Law
?It is not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong? Are laws to be enforced simply because they were made or declared by any number of men to be good, if they are not good…What kind of laws for free men can you expect from that? …Christ was crucified…. Captain Brown was hung. These are two ends of a chain, which is not missing its links.
-Henry David Thoreau
What is this link in the chain of life?s history? It is discontent with unjust laws – cruel and unjust laws enforced by no less cruel and unjust men. But, men through the ages have made known what kind of government commands the respect of freedom loving people. Thoreau wrote in his essay, ?Civil Disobedience? that ?all men recognize that the right of revolution…the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable,?
This paper will show that as man protested against and exposed unjust laws, he left his mark on the future?s destiny. Problems were solved in religion, race relationships, and taxation. Leaders were produced who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base on which others could follow.
Although the chain is long. I will begin with Moses. Moses led the people enslaved by the Hebrews in Egypt to freedom. He followed his conscious and rebuked the laws of his adopted father who also was the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses disobeyed the government, but his legacy live today. His great and noble deeds in behalf of freedom of an enslaved people and ?The Ten Commandments? given to him by God on Mt. Sinai have been continuously taught the world over up to the present year. Moses? link on the chain of civil disobedience dictates how we live today.
Jesus, the founder of ?Christianity?, preached against the dictatorship and ceremonial observance of the Jewish law of the Herodians and the Sanhedrin. Jesus preached for repentance of sin, denial of worship to pagan and idol gods and the virtues of charity, faith, and humility. Jesus was arrested and condemned to death by the chief Jewish tribunal, the Sanhedrin. He was executed along with the other criminals. Nevertheless, Jesus? legacy lives on as a blueprint on how to live.
Yet, tyranny and unjust laws have continued through the years. Thoreau wrote in ?The Captain?s Plea for John Brown.?
?We talk about a representative government; but what a monster of a government is that when the noblest faculties of the mind, and the whole heart, are not represented …The only government to which all the truly brave and just men…. are enemies, standing between it and those whom it oppresses. A government that pretends to be Christian and crucifies Christ everyday.?
We see the above in the light of history. In the French Revolution men like Baron deMontesquien in The Spirit of Laws advocated the separation of power with ?checks and balances? in government and uncompromising defense of liberty against tyranny. Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contrast wrote ?man is born free, but today is everywhere in chains?. Just as in France, The American Revolution pursued the ideals of ?liberty and equality? in repudiating the traditional government. Yet these same colonists who claimed to be Christians and followers of the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Jesus held men in bondage as chattel.
Great men arose in the defense of the slaves, John Brown being on of them. The United States of America was formed on the principles of ?separation of power? and ?liberty and equality?. Yet the white Christians only meant ?liberty and equality? for the whites. During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine said, ?Give me liberty or give me death?. He was applauded and deemed a hero; yet when the Black chattels or an abolitionist such as John Brown cried the same for freedom of the slaves they were called insane and charged with insurrection and treason. John Anthony Copeland a Black slave hanged along with Brown said, ?If I am dying for freedom, I could not die for a better cause – I had rather die than be a slave.? The ruling government hanged him. On the other hand Nathan Hale had said earlier during the Revolution, ?I regret that I have only one life to lose for my country.? The same government hailed him a hero. Thoreau summed it up when he said, ?The modern Christian is a man who…shows the white of his eyes on the Sabbath, and the blacks all the rest of the week.?
The above shows two diverse attitudes toward civil disobedience. On the one hand the ruling government instills the philosophical doctrine of liberty and equality for themselves, while one the other hand, they placed harsh and stringent laws into effect which denied Black America equal rights. It took men such as Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP to battle for equal rights for Blacks in the United States Supreme Court. With every win, it took James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality to test the enforcement and re-enforcement of the non-discrimination by using ?sit-ins? at lunch counters and ?freedom rides? on public transportation. It was only this disobedience of the unjust laws that ended discrimination and segregation for Blacks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Organization had to illuminate the injustices with marches.
In conclusion, these men, Moses, Lafayette, Montesquien, Rosseau, Thomas Paine, Thurgood Marshall, Farmer and Dr. King in their fight against unjust laws taught us how to live. Jesus and men like John Brown and John Copeland in their death taught us how to die for our right and freedom. John Brown said, ?the reason why such greatly superior numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, because they lacked a cause – a kind of armor which he and his party lacked.? So it is with all men who fought a government who implement unjust laws.
In the face of history, unjust law exists. Men have fought against them, but just as Thoreau said in Civil Disobedience ?Why does it resist before it is hurt…Why does it always crucify Christ, and ex-communicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels or jail a King or Farmer before realizing their errors. From Jesus to the men who protested against the unjust laws, they left their mark on the future?s destiny. They solved problems of race relations, taxations without representation and they produced leaders who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base for which others could build.
English 200/Adv CompJoy
April 4, 2000
Unjust Law
?It is not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong? Are laws to be enforced simply because they were made or declared by any number of men to be good, if they are not good…What kind of laws for free men can you expect from that? …Christ was crucified…. Captain Brown was hung. These are two ends of a chain, which is not missing its links.
-Henry David Thoreau
What is this link in the chain of life?s history? It is discontent with unjust laws – cruel and unjust laws enforced by no less cruel and unjust men. But, men through the ages have made known what kind of government commands the respect of freedom loving people. Thoreau wrote in his essay, ?Civil Disobedience? that ?all men recognize that the right of revolution…the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable,?
This paper will show that as man protested against and exposed unjust laws, he left his mark on the future?s destiny. Problems were solved in religion, race relationships, and taxation. Leaders were produced who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base on which others could follow.
Although the chain is long. I will begin with Moses. Moses led the people enslaved by the Hebrews in Egypt to freedom. He followed his conscious and rebuked the laws of his adopted father who also was the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses disobeyed the government, but his legacy live today. His great and noble deeds in behalf of freedom of an enslaved people and ?The Ten Commandments? given to him by God on Mt. Sinai have been continuously taught the world over up to the present year. Moses? link on the chain of civil disobedience dictates how we live today.
Jesus, the founder of ?Christianity?, preached against the dictatorship and ceremonial observance of the Jewish law of the Herodians and the Sanhedrin. Jesus preached for repentance of sin, denial of worship to pagan and idol gods and the virtues of charity, faith, and humility. Jesus was arrested and condemned to death by the chief Jewish tribunal, the Sanhedrin. He was executed along with the other criminals. Nevertheless, Jesus? legacy lives on as a blueprint on how to live.
Yet, tyranny and unjust laws have continued through the years. Thoreau wrote in ?The Captain?s Plea for John Brown.?
?We talk about a representative government; but what a monster of a government is that when the noblest faculties of the mind, and the whole heart, are not represented …The only government to which all the truly brave and just men…. are enemies, standing between it and those whom it oppresses. A government that pretends to be Christian and crucifies Christ everyday.?
We see the above in the light of history. In the French Revolution men like Baron deMontesquien in The Spirit of Laws advocated the separation of power with ?checks and balances? in government and uncompromising defense of liberty against tyranny. Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contrast wrote ?man is born free, but today is everywhere in chains?. Just as in France, The American Revolution pursued the ideals of ?liberty and equality? in repudiating the traditional government. Yet these same colonists who claimed to be Christians and followers of the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Jesus held men in bondage as chattel.
Great men arose in the defense of the slaves, John Brown being on of them. The United States of America was formed on the principles of ?separation of power? and ?liberty and equality?. Yet the white Christians only meant ?liberty and equality? for the whites. During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine said, ?Give me liberty or give me death?. He was applauded and deemed a hero; yet when the Black chattels or an abolitionist such as John Brown cried the same for freedom of the slaves they were called insane and charged with insurrection and treason. John Anthony Copeland a Black slave hanged along with Brown said, ?If I am dying for freedom, I could not die for a better cause – I had rather die than be a slave.? The ruling government hanged him. On the other hand Nathan Hale had said earlier during the Revolution, ?I regret that I have only one life to lose for my country.? The same government hailed him a hero. Thoreau summed it up when he said, ?The modern Christian is a man who…shows the white of his eyes on the Sabbath, and the blacks all the rest of the week.?
The above shows two diverse attitudes toward civil disobedience. On the one hand the ruling government instills the philosophical doctrine of liberty and equality for themselves, while one the other hand, they placed harsh and stringent laws into effect which denied Black America equal rights. It took men such as Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP to battle for equal rights for Blacks in the United States Supreme Court. With every win, it took James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality to test the enforcement and re-enforcement of the non-discrimination by using ?sit-ins? at lunch counters and ?freedom rides? on public transportation. It was only this disobedience of the unjust laws that ended discrimination and segregation for Blacks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Organization had to illuminate the injustices with marches.
In conclusion, these men, Moses, Lafayette, Montesquien, Rosseau, Thomas Paine, Thurgood Marshall, Farmer and Dr. King in their fight against unjust laws taught us how to live. Jesus and men like John Brown and John Copeland in their death taught us how to die for our right and freedom. John Brown said, ?the reason why such greatly superior numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, because they lacked a cause – a kind of armor which he and his party lacked.? So it is with all men who fought a government who implement unjust laws.
In the face of history, unjust law exists. Men have fought against them, but just as Thoreau said in Civil Disobedience ?Why does it resist before it is hurt…Why does it always crucify Christ, and ex-communicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels or jail a King or Farmer before realizing their errors. From Jesus to the men who protested against the unjust laws, they left their mark on the future?s destiny. They solved problems of race relations, taxations without representation and they produced leaders who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base for which others could build.
English 200/Adv CompJoy
April 4, 2000
Unjust Law
?It is not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong? Are laws to be enforced simply because they were made or declared by any number of men to be good, if they are not good…What kind of laws for free men can you expect from that? …Christ was crucified…. Captain Brown was hung. These are two ends of a chain, which is not missing its links.
-Henry David Thoreau
What is this link in the chain of life?s history? It is discontent with unjust laws – cruel and unjust laws enforced by no less cruel and unjust men. But, men through the ages have made known what kind of government commands the respect of freedom loving people. Thoreau wrote in his essay, ?Civil Disobedience? that ?all men recognize that the right of revolution…the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable,?
This paper will show that as man protested against and exposed unjust laws, he left his mark on the future?s destiny. Problems were solved in religion, race relationships, and taxation. Leaders were produced who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base on which others could follow.
Although the chain is long. I will begin with Moses. Moses led the people enslaved by the Hebrews in Egypt to freedom. He followed his conscious and rebuked the laws of his adopted father who also was the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses disobeyed the government, but his legacy live today. His great and noble deeds in behalf of freedom of an enslaved people and ?The Ten Commandments? given to him by God on Mt. Sinai have been continuously taught the world over up to the present year. Moses? link on the chain of civil disobedience dictates how we live today.
Jesus, the founder of ?Christianity?, preached against the dictatorship and ceremonial observance of the Jewish law of the Herodians and the Sanhedrin. Jesus preached for repentance of sin, denial of worship to pagan and idol gods and the virtues of charity, faith, and humility. Jesus was arrested and condemned to death by the chief Jewish tribunal, the Sanhedrin. He was executed along with the other criminals. Nevertheless, Jesus? legacy lives on as a blueprint on how to live.
Yet, tyranny and unjust laws have continued through the years. Thoreau wrote in ?The Captain?s Plea for John Brown.?
?We talk about a representative government; but what a monster of a government is that when the noblest faculties of the mind, and the whole heart, are not represented …The only government to which all the truly brave and just men…. are enemies, standing between it and those whom it oppresses. A government that pretends to be Christian and crucifies Christ everyday.?
We see the above in the light of history. In the French Revolution men like Baron deMontesquien in The Spirit of Laws advocated the separation of power with ?checks and balances? in government and uncompromising defense of liberty against tyranny. Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contrast wrote ?man is born free, but today is everywhere in chains?. Just as in France, The American Revolution pursued the ideals of ?liberty and equality? in repudiating the traditional government. Yet these same colonists who claimed to be Christians and followers of the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Jesus held men in bondage as chattel.
Great men arose in the defense of the slaves, John Brown being on of them. The United States of America was formed on the principles of ?separation of power? and ?liberty and equality?. Yet the white Christians only meant ?liberty and equality? for the whites. During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine said, ?Give me liberty or give me death?. He was applauded and deemed a hero; yet when the Black chattels or an abolitionist such as John Brown cried the same for freedom of the slaves they were called insane and charged with insurrection and treason. John Anthony Copeland a Black slave hanged along with Brown said, ?If I am dying for freedom, I could not die for a better cause – I had rather die than be a slave.? The ruling government hanged him. On the other hand Nathan Hale had said earlier during the Revolution, ?I regret that I have only one life to lose for my country.? The same government hailed him a hero. Thoreau summed it up when he said, ?The modern Christian is a man who…shows the white of his eyes on the Sabbath, and the blacks all the rest of the week.?
The above shows two diverse attitudes toward civil disobedience. On the one hand the ruling government instills the philosophical doctrine of liberty and equality for themselves, while one the other hand, they placed harsh and stringent laws into effect which denied Black America equal rights. It took men such as Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP to battle for equal rights for Blacks in the United States Supreme Court. With every win, it took James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality to test the enforcement and re-enforcement of the non-discrimination by using ?sit-ins? at lunch counters and ?freedom rides? on public transportation. It was only this disobedience of the unjust laws that ended discrimination and segregation for Blacks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Organization had to illuminate the injustices with marches.
In conclusion, these men, Moses, Lafayette, Montesquien, Rosseau, Thomas Paine, Thurgood Marshall, Farmer and Dr. King in their fight against unjust laws taught us how to live. Jesus and men like John Brown and John Copeland in their death taught us how to die for our right and freedom. John Brown said, ?the reason why such greatly superior numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, because they lacked a cause – a kind of armor which he and his party lacked.? So it is with all men who fought a government who implement unjust laws.
In the face of history, unjust law exists. Men have fought against them, but just as Thoreau said in Civil Disobedience ?Why does it resist before it is hurt…Why does it always crucify Christ, and ex-communicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels or jail a King or Farmer before realizing their errors. From Jesus to the men who protested against the unjust laws, they left their mark on the future?s destiny. They solved problems of race relations, taxations without representation and they produced leaders who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base for which others could build.
English 200/Adv CompJoy
April 4, 2000
Unjust Law
?It is not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong? Are laws to be enforced simply because they were made or declared by any number of men to be good, if they are not good…What kind of laws for free men can you expect from that? …Christ was crucified…. Captain Brown was hung. These are two ends of a chain, which is not missing its links.
-Henry David Thoreau
What is this link in the chain of life?s history? It is discontent with unjust laws – cruel and unjust laws enforced by no less cruel and unjust men. But, men through the ages have made known what kind of government commands the respect of freedom loving people. Thoreau wrote in his essay, ?Civil Disobedience? that ?all men recognize that the right of revolution…the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable,?
This paper will show that as man protested against and exposed unjust laws, he left his mark on the future?s destiny. Problems were solved in religion, race relationships, and taxation. Leaders were produced who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base on which others could follow.
Although the chain is long. I will begin with Moses. Moses led the people enslaved by the Hebrews in Egypt to freedom. He followed his conscious and rebuked the laws of his adopted father who also was the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses disobeyed the government, but his legacy live today. His great and noble deeds in behalf of freedom of an enslaved people and ?The Ten Commandments? given to him by God on Mt. Sinai have been continuously taught the world over up to the present year. Moses? link on the chain of civil disobedience dictates how we live today.
Jesus, the founder of ?Christianity?, preached against the dictatorship and ceremonial observance of the Jewish law of the Herodians and the Sanhedrin. Jesus preached for repentance of sin, denial of worship to pagan and idol gods and the virtues of charity, faith, and humility. Jesus was arrested and condemned to death by the chief Jewish tribunal, the Sanhedrin. He was executed along with the other criminals. Nevertheless, Jesus? legacy lives on as a blueprint on how to live.
Yet, tyranny and unjust laws have continued through the years. Thoreau wrote in ?The Captain?s Plea for John Brown.?
?We talk about a representative government; but what a monster of a government is that when the noblest faculties of the mind, and the whole heart, are not represented …The only government to which all the truly brave and just men…. are enemies, standing between it and those whom it oppresses. A government that pretends to be Christian and crucifies Christ everyday.?
We see the above in the light of history. In the French Revolution men like Baron deMontesquien in The Spirit of Laws advocated the separation of power with ?checks and balances? in government and uncompromising defense of liberty against tyranny. Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contrast wrote ?man is born free, but today is everywhere in chains?. Just as in France, The American Revolution pursued the ideals of ?liberty and equality? in repudiating the traditional government. Yet these same colonists who claimed to be Christians and followers of the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Jesus held men in bondage as chattel.
Great men arose in the defense of the slaves, John Brown being on of them. The United States of America was formed on the principles of ?separation of power? and ?liberty and equality?. Yet the white Christians only meant ?liberty and equality? for the whites. During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine said, ?Give me liberty or give me death?. He was applauded and deemed a hero; yet when the Black chattels or an abolitionist such as John Brown cried the same for freedom of the slaves they were called insane and charged with insurrection and treason. John Anthony Copeland a Black slave hanged along with Brown said, ?If I am dying for freedom, I could not die for a better cause – I had rather die than be a slave.? The ruling government hanged him. On the other hand Nathan Hale had said earlier during the Revolution, ?I regret that I have only one life to lose for my country.? The same government hailed him a hero. Thoreau summed it up when he said, ?The modern Christian is a man who…shows the white of his eyes on the Sabbath, and the blacks all the rest of the week.?
The above shows two diverse attitudes toward civil disobedience. On the one hand the ruling government instills the philosophical doctrine of liberty and equality for themselves, while one the other hand, they placed harsh and stringent laws into effect which denied Black America equal rights. It took men such as Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP to battle for equal rights for Blacks in the United States Supreme Court. With every win, it took James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality to test the enforcement and re-enforcement of the non-discrimination by using ?sit-ins? at lunch counters and ?freedom rides? on public transportation. It was only this disobedience of the unjust laws that ended discrimination and segregation for Blacks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Organization had to illuminate the injustices with marches.
In conclusion, these men, Moses, Lafayette, Montesquien, Rosseau, Thomas Paine, Thurgood Marshall, Farmer and Dr. King in their fight against unjust laws taught us how to live. Jesus and men like John Brown and John Copeland in their death taught us how to die for our right and freedom. John Brown said, ?the reason why such greatly superior numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, because they lacked a cause – a kind of armor which he and his party lacked.? So it is with all men who fought a government who implement unjust laws.
In the face of history, unjust law exists. Men have fought against them, but just as Thoreau said in Civil Disobedience ?Why does it resist before it is hurt…Why does it always crucify Christ, and ex-communicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels or jail a King or Farmer before realizing their errors. From Jesus to the men who protested against the unjust laws, they left their mark on the future?s destiny. They solved problems of race relations, taxations without representation and they produced leaders who left a legacy for those who followed and created a base for which others could build.