Instructions: Length: 5 pp, double spaced, or perhaps a little more. (Ill read what you write.)
The Topic:
If there is a conflict between human law and a persons conscience, which should he or she follow? What circumstances should influence his or her decision?
The best essays will consider ideas from
Cicero, On the Laws ,
http://corematerials.homestead.com/new_cicero.pdf
John Locke on Property
http://corematerials.homestead.com/16_Property_and_Government_locke.pdf
The Declaration of Independence
http://corematerials.homestead.com/19_The_Declaration_of_Independence.pdf
The Seneca Falls Declaration of Rights and Sentiments
http://corematerials.homestead.com/33_Seneca_Falls_Declaration_of_Sentiments.pdf
Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
http://corematerials.homestead.com/35_On_the_Duty_of_Civil_Disobedience__1849__Henry_David______ThoreauI.pdf
William Lloyd Garrison, On the Constitution
http://ideaofdemocracy.homestead.com/files/On_the_Constitution_and_the_UnionThe_Liberator.pdf
Martin Luther King, Letter from the Birmingham Jail
http://corematerials.homestead.com/53_Martin_Luther_King_sLetter_from_Birmingham_Jail.pdf
Also the Letter from the Birmingham Clergymen
…as well as your own thoughts and ideas, analysis, and applications of the ideas from others of our documents for the semester. http://corematerials.homestead.com/files/added_2012_2013/Letter_to_Martin_Luther_KingA_Group_of_ClergymenApril_12.pdf
The documents on the list discuss both individual and community responsibilities regarding the laws, when to keep them, and when to break them. As you ponder all of this, make sure to honor your own ideas. Remember our trio: assertions, evidence, and analysis. Feel free to use contemporary examples, including the videos weve watched in class. Do not, however, use outside sources, thinking that their ideas hold more authority than yours do. As Kant said, Have the courage to use your own mind. This includes using examples of what you yourself would do under certain circumstances.
Remember that you will need to explain the concepts and ideas you draw from the document, as you would to an ideal readera person who is as intelligent as you are, but lacking in the specific knowledge you have. For example, you might want to think about the difference between human laws and universal moral law. Think, too, on what Locke says about the one piece of property each of us owns, and how that leads us to responsibility for our actions.
EXTRA CREDIT (This is optionalnot doing it will not hurt your grade, doing it cannot hurt your grade, but may help it).
INSTRUCTIONS:
Documents are fragile things. We know of the existence of many that once existed, but which have been lost through fire, flood, war, or simple human carelessness.
Of all the documents weve read and discussed this semester, which three, in your judgment, are the most important for us to save and pass on to future generations? Why do you think they are so important?
