Joselaine Ocumin
AP Language and Composition
Mrs. Haedtler
December 17, 2013
Synthesis Essay Rewrite In times where there have been unjust laws, people have felt the need to fight against these laws and acts to fight for what the people believe in. Although some movements and revolutions may not have been successful, their voice was undoubtedly heard by their peers and superiors, in turn, letting them know that action needed to be taken. This process is exactly what the people of the Boston Tea Party, Thoreau and Martin Luther King did in order for their respective causes - their respective voices - to be heard. Through their respective practices of civil disobedience, the claim that unjust laws can benefit society as a whole is clearly proven to be correct. Within each of the respective causes, the men and women called for action when their governments were degrading the people of their rights. Before the Boston Tea Party occurred, the people of Boston were being asked by a government who refused to represent America to pay for the government’s taxes. The people affected by these taxes understood that the system was being very hypocritical: why would the people in America pay taxes for a government that could, in any given time, abandon them in times of need? Similarly, Thoreau’s government was also requiring his society to pay for unnecessary taxes, however the funds would be used to aid the Mexican-American War which was an event that Thoreau had the right to discard. Through his authority as a renowned lecturer, he took into account in one of his lectures a right that he was deprived of: the right to be liberal. And, in turn, took into account how twisted the government was being by depriving him of that right. Likewise, King also took into account that there was a need for now when it came to action to go against the segregation and discrimination that the “blacks” were experiencing against the “whites”, which created a whole revolution throughout the United States to halt the society that was colored with the hatred within segregation and discrimination. And, through each realization, the rest is history. The need for action of civil disobedience was key to igniting the respective wars. King clearly lashes out against those who tell him to wait for a “better time” to look for revolution, “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro