Comparing Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther K

"...A little rebellion now and then is a good thing...It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government." doubting Thomas JeffersonThoreau, a transcendentalist from the mid 19th century and Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights movement leader of a century later both believed the necessity of medicine for government. Although they showed diversity of opinion on issues regarding voting, both writers agree on the necessity to reform the government and the means of accomplishing it. In Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail and Thoreaus Civil Disobedience, both agreed on injustice of majority to rule over minority, both resisted the government passively, and both wanted a better government immediately.The majority is not of necessity right, but they have always been the ones in power because they are the strongest and the most influential. Therefore, all the laws are written by the majority, almost all are in favor of the majority, and all are enforced by the majori ty. According to King, a law drafted by the majority is only just when the minority are automatic to follow it. He wrote "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority aggroup compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself" (2475). In other words, if a law denies the right of the minority or is inflicted upon the minority by force, then it is not a just law. Similar opinions are shared by Thoreau, when he writes "But a government in which the majority r...