English Literature

Much of the freedom that America now enjoys is owed mostly to the people in the past who chose to reject injustice in all forms at whatever costs.  Today, Barack Obama of a once segregated ethnicity is the president of the most powerful nation in the world.  This is the most visible proof that the lives of those men and women, risked for the cause of liberty and justice for all, was never in vain.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thomas Jefferson, with 187 years apart in authorship of A Letter from a Birmingham Jail by King and of The Unanimous Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen United States of America by Jefferson, are among the important figures in the quest for freedom and equality not only in America but in the whole world.

The Age of Enlightenment in Europe had to a large extent influenced the early minds of the American colonists.  The various philosophers in Age of Reason or Enlightenment like Secondat and Montesquieu used satire to covertly criticize society and the crown. People started to question and think.  Most of John Lockes ideas on government were the basis of pertinent portions in the Declaration of Independence by the Thirteen United States.  The kind of government that America had adopted is from Montesquieus The Spirit of the Laws, which is protective of liberty.  Voltaire wrote of the grave injustice of religious intolerance and the slave trade.

Voltaire wrote of the Freedom of Speech which is in the Constitutions Bill of Rights.  Rosseaus kind of democracy resides in the collective will of the people.  Thomas Paine urged the colonists to rebel against their colonial master who abuse their rights.  Paines ideas did not gain initial following, but continued abuses by England over the colonies finally drove the colonists into action.  The Enlightenment had opened the eyes and thinking of the colonists on their rights and how their government must guarantee and protect these rights.  Guided by the Enlightened thinkers, Thomas Jefferson wrote the most enduring and exceptionally important document of the Nation, that stood for the natural and inalienable rights of people, a just governments duty to preserve and protect those rights, a government whose power comes from the citizens it serves and the same people who can seek to overthrow such government in the event it has become unjust.

Despite several revisions, the Declaration of Independence  remained basically as Jefferson had crafted it.  The beautifully worded  and moving Declaration enumerated the abuses of England over the American colonies.  Twenty five years down the road, on March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson in his First Inaugural Address , asked the people

Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself.
Can he, then, be trusted with a government of others  Or have we found angels
in the form of kings to govern him  Let history answer the question.
   
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an advocate of non-violent campaigns to protest racial segregation.  He championed human rights causes and was a leading figure of the civil rights movement.  King and his people suffered physical abuse, humiliation, discrimination against, and all the psychological pain, resentment, fear, and anger these maltreatments had caused.    Kings approach was a 4-step process which included determining the existence of injustice, negotiating, purifying oneself and finally direct action.

King and Jefferson were both advocates of freedom.  Jefferson authored the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia.  The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen United States, which was crafted by Jefferson, embodied the desire of the colonists to break free from British colonial rule.  Jefferson lent the brilliance of his pen to articulate the aspirations of the colonists for true independence.  Kings presence and leadership among his segregated brothers had a more personal involvement in the cause of freedom.  He suffered incarceration, violence was committed against his person and he experienced untold hardship for the cause he wanted to win.  The circumstances when they fought for freedom were very different.  In Jeffersons time, the thirteen colonies had only one, collective wish.  They wanted the abuses of England stopped and for America to self-rule.    During the time when King rallied his people, America was already independent of foreign rule, but the desire  for freedom was of a different kind where only the colored were affected and were the ones wanting of such freedom  to enjoy the rights guaranteed every citizen of a free nation.

The common ground for both King and Jefferson in their pursuit of liberty was their vision of a free American where all men are equal.  They both blazed the trail to freedom so the future will be better for the succeeding generations.  Jefferson opposed a foreign master, King fought a domestic oppressor.  Jefferson was part of the Continental Congress that declared independence from British rule.  King protested against an oppressive society when he said, We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.  Jeffersons Declaration led to a revolution, Kings mass actions were met with violence.  These were the obstacles that they had to overcome for the freedom they desired.  The risks in the name of freedom, in the words of the Declaration, were to mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

The reward of freedom has been won and kept strong.  Individual freedoms are rights guaranteed by the Constitution.  Had Thomas Jefferson been alive today he would be very tolerant of gay marriages citing the protective cloak of the persons rights to the pursuit of their happiness. Neither would Martin Luther King, Jr. object as he would be the first to defend equal rights, to possibly include gay rights.