Summary Of I Have A Dream Speech

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Martin Luther King Jr. addressed many issues in his “I have a dream” speech and his letters from Birmingham regarding the Civil Rights progress that needed to be made. He addressed what he believed was the differences between a just law and an unjust law. He talked about the different types of extremists and why he supported the use of direct action. He implied that there needed to be a constructive and realistic approach to solve racism with patience and reasonable terms. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that justice delayed is the same as justice being denied. He explained that just laws are legal and moral based, and there is a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws. He spoke about St. Augustine’s quote, “an unjust law is no law at all.” …show more content…

He stated that Jesus Christ was an extremist for love. Amos was an extremist for justice. Paul the disciple was an extremist for the Christian Gospel. He also referenced John Bunyan, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson as being creative extremists of their time. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “I have a dream” speech, he talked about the reason why his Civil Rights movement went to the capital. He stated that they went to the capital to cash a check. The check that he was referring to dated back to a time when the framers made and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He claimed that the architects of the Republic signed a promissory note that was paid in the order of every American. There was a promise made that all men have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In MLK’s speech he said that, “America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’. Do I believe that after forty-five years later this check has been cashed in and the promise has been fulfilled? I think that we defiantly have made progress within the realm of the Civil Rights movement, but we have a lot more to work

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