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Nick Bone

Miss Edgar

English 10

08 January 2015

Ethics & Morals

Many people that are leaders of movements break the law; they do it because it is the

ethical and moral thing to do. Moral is knowing what the right is; it means in your heart what

is the right thing to do. Sometimes, in order to do what is morally and ethically right, an

individual must break the law. This concept is evident in the selections On Nonviolent Resistance

by Gandhi and Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gandhis speech, On Nonviolent Resistance, outlines reasons for when it is morally and

ethically appropriate to break the law. Gandhi shows this by having protest to protest the law that

is unjust and doesnt give equality to all races. Likewise, he went to jail for these protest. When a

law isnt fair to men and women it is ok to break the law because it doesnt treat everyone the

same. We made it clear to the said government that we would not bow to its outrageous laws

(Gandhi On Nonviolent 279). In this quote Gandhi is saying that the laws that are unfair and

unjust will not be obeyed and followed. All in all, Gandhis plea for cooperation and not violence

as a means of protest, demonstrates his moral and ethical philosophy in life.

In an open letter, Martin Luther King, Jr. maintains how, on occasion, people have to

stand up to unjust laws because these laws go against their morals and ethics. When the United
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States had segregation laws many blacks became very upset with the government. In this case

there are many protests; this is how they would break the law. It is ok for them to break it

because it goes against their morals of equality. Also, when the law restricts freedoms you will

speak out against it. In this case it is ok to break the law because it restricts god given rights. An

unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with moral law.(King Letter from Birmingham jail

281). This is saying as a person you have to know when a law just doesnt fit into society and

you have to stand up to it and protest it and make it go away to have harmony back in your life

and society. For the preceding reasons, Martin Luther King, Jrs letter focuses on how to protest

when laws are in conflict with the peoples moral and ethical beliefs.

Without a doubt, actions of civil disobedience and specific times to break laws that are

morally and ethically unfair are illustrated in On Nonviolent Resistance and Letter from

Birmingham City Jail. It is ok to break the law when it doesnt follow your morals because on

the inside you will feel horrible about yourself and will lay sleepless at night thinking what you

could to make a change; you will most likely have to break the law but after the fact you will so

good about yourself you will always have a smile on your face knowing you made a change.
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