In his letter to the clergy, Dr. Martin Luther King uses many of the intellectual concepts that President Thomas Jefferson employed in drafting the United States Declaration of Independence of America. While highlighting Jefferson's more idealistic approach, Dr. King continually references his own religious background to establish an emotional and fundamental connection with clergy. Although Jefferson took a much less direct approach when incorporating religion into his compositions and doctrines than Dr. King, King's ideas of unity and reason through God closely resemble those of President Abraham Lincoln, and more specifically in the second speech Lincoln Inaugural. Harmonizing the approach of the two presidents, Dr. King composes a rather compelling letter from his prison cell. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Jefferson's Declaration of Independence states that "whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as will seem most likely to ensure their safety and happiness [1] As the dawn of the independence of the United States approached, those living in the colonies were treated with little respect by the British rulers. This led Jefferson to construct a document in which the rights and safety of the people of the new nation were firmly at the highest level of priority. While Jefferson states that all men are created equal, for King's purposes, Jefferson's idea of voters challenging the government is more central. All men are created equal, but recognizing and understanding differences to achieve equality was King's goal. After clerics chastised Dr. King and his followers for conducting "unwise and ill-timed" protests, he responded "that the new administration needs to be prodded as much as the outgoing one before it takes action." [2] Dr. King believed that Birmingham's old and new administrations had turned back on their promises to desegregate some of the city's institutions. When the results did not materialize, Dr. King, just like Jefferson, took action and fought for the safety and happiness of his people. Lincoln's second inaugural address emphasizes that "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous as a whole" [3]. This reference alludes to Lincoln's idea that God brought trouble to the United States in the form of the Civil War as punishment for slavery. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King argues that unjust laws must be disobeyed. He also quotes St. Augustine as saying that “an unjust law is no law at all.” While it may be disinterested to directly compare Lincoln's idea of ​​God to Dr. King himself, the similarities are obvious. Dr. King brought protests to Birmingham as a response to discourse on racial equality, while God unleashed war as a response to slavery in the United States. Each of these events, worldly and otherworldly, emphasize Lincoln's ideas about religion as a path to equality. In King's eyes, devotion to God was the key to unity between the races. Lincoln saw God's actions as consequences of man's atrocities, while King saw God's actions as rewards for loyalty. While there are many ideological similarities between King's letter and the speeches of the two presidents, their foundations are inherently different. While