Civil Disobedience Dbq

Both Dr. Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham city jail as well as Henry David Thoreau’s civil disobedience shows how we should all practice civil disobedience for justice and to right an unjust law or action. Which bring up the question of whether civil disobedience is effective or ineffective in achieving change? Based on history we see civil disobedience is an effective way to achieve change in democratic countries. Civil disobedience can only work in a democratic country because in a democracy the government gains all its power from the people. In the case of dr. martin Luther king, he executed a nonviolent movement with thousands of fellow citizens to achieve change. He was then arrested for leading this movement “I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit.” Since the people demanded the change the government must accept that because if they were to overpower the people that would cause uproar throughout the united states and thus cause the American people to overthrow and assume the United States government. The most important part of civil disobedience in democratic …show more content…
The government becomes to strong and they rely on violence and fear to maintain their control as Henry David Thoreau says “But because they are physically the strongest.” If we look to Nelson Mandela in South Africa we can see civil disobedience does absolutely nothing as Mandela outset his campaign as a nonviolent disobedience to change South Africa’s apartheid. He initially believed in civil disobedience until the government used violence and open fired on him and his people. He then decided violence was necessary. We can also look to Tiananmen Square, Beijing where millions of citizens gathered in protest then Beijing troops started firing into the crow killing and injuring hundreds. Civil disobedience is only effective when the democratic government gives people the rights