The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson is a document written in 1776 that aimed to create equality among all persons on earth and grant everyone certain unalienable rights. Nearly 187 years after this document was written, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from inside the Birmingham jail addressing the inequality that African American people were facing in the South. Most white people in the South during this time were interpreting the Declaration in different ways that supported the segregation of African Americans and white supremacy where they took the phrase “separate but equal” out of context. Martin Luther King Jr. provides detailed events of unjust treatment based on race within his letter where he aims to re-interpret …show more content…
He says in the declaration, “But when a long train of abuses…evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security” (87). Jefferson is essentially saying that if somebody is being treated poorly through tyranny, then they should find a way to overthrow their oppressors and establish a new form of government. Tyranny and despotism are forms of oppressive government where a single ruling body holds all of the power over the people. Jefferson defines tyranny and despotism when he references how the King of Great Britain was treating the people he ruled over and how he refused to consent to laws that were essential for the good of all the people (88). In his letter, Martin Luther King Jr. describes the type of unjust governing he was living within and how he and fellow African Americans were peacefully protesting and trying to stand up to their oppressors. In his letter he says, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed…We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied”’ (69). Martin Luther King Jr. is describing how his race …show more content…
were fighting for a more just treatment of the oppressed groups of society by advocating for protests against unjust laws. King advocates for protests when he says, "It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's anti-religious laws” (72). Martin Luther King Jr. is advocating for peaceful protest here by referencing Hitler and his communist actions that oppressed the Jewish people and saying that in some cases, such as this one, where a group of people are being treated unjustly, there needs to be protests where the oppressed groups of people can stand up for themselves. Thomas Jefferson references the unjust laws that the King of Great Britain was imposing on people in his time period when he says, “He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only” (88). This is a description of an unjust law because Jefferson is essentially saying that the King of Great Britain was forcing people to prove representation for themselves, which is something they were never going to