King's use of ethos and allusion in "Letter From Birmingham Jail" proves effective as a method of advocating for the credibility of his cause and civil disobedience. King writes, "Isn't this like condemning Socrates because he's unswerving commitment to the truth and his philosophical delvings precipitated the misguided popular mind to make him drink the hemlock," (paragraph 18, line 3). In writing this, King uses allusion to plead his case for the peaceful protests and their effectiveness. Despite the clergymen claiming that they are violent in nature because they lead to violence by the crowds, King argues that such events are not the goal of the protestors. Thought they are a result, the protests themselves, King point out in this line,
