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Comparing King & Thoreau The two essays, “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. and “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau both express the author’s views of the governmental system and the justice it invokes. However, King discusses the political as well as the racial injustice in America, while Thoreau speaks generally about the government and the people who run it. In addition, King and Thoreau take on different personas while discussing the government. King states the facts, while appealing directly to the pathos of the reader. On the other hand, Thoreau lectures at an almost distinguished viewpoint while making his readers feel inferior. To begin, both authors are disturbed with the government of the day, and how it does not function properly. Thoreau discusses his opinions of the government and sums up that it is, at its current state, pretty pathetic. For example, Thoreau demands “not at once no governm