Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail Essay
Destitude of Money and freinds and have Been Confined in Newgate in Bristol 13 months I Remain your humble Servant Johana McCartyWhen looking at Darby and Ames, Shelton takes a more utilitarian approach when dealing with their killings. The government system is supposed to punish those who are wrong. But in the trial of Darby and Ames, only Ames was punished severely while Darby was allowed to go free. To achieve his persuasive goal, he would have to provide plenty of logos, plenty of facts about his nonviolent movement, plenty of examples of lunch counters closed to black men and amusement parks closed to black children, plenty of cases of lynchings and drowning, plenty of testimony from prominent theologians who define segregation as sin. He would also have to temper his outrage over such cruelties with cool reason, stressing the illogic of writing laws that apply to some but not to all. Such logos, he knew, would build his ethos, his credibility, showing his skeptical audience that he knows the facts of injustice (informed), that he cares about his peoples long sufferings (generous), that he has told the truth about the brutal police.
Your Petitioner therefore most fervently Prays you to take his case into your consideration And that you will be pleased to allow him such sum as in Your goodness shall seem meet And Your Petitioner will ever most Sincerely Pray William Jasper his mark To Mr Scutts and Mr Palmer Gentlemen As in duty I am bound to Pray for you for your most zealous and arduos undertakings In my cause be pleased to accept these few ill written lines Which I now write to you and I hope the Lord will strengthen You In your undertakings which you have already began on my Part and should you succeed with the Blessing of God for me To be restored to society once more I should call myself one Of the happiest beings on Earth with my Family as you know From the information I have given you to understand I can Prove to be as useful a Member for the Bank as ever they employed And also for the Public good as the forged Note Makers Signify they shall make their Fortunes as soon as the Notes For his Majestys new reign shall get into circulation and the new Silver as they are making great Preparations for them in Birmingham at this time and there is not the least doubt but they will succeed in Counterfeiting them as some of them have For Years to my knowledge.
Circumstances, your Petitioner therefore humbly Solicitts your Honours will be pleased to Consider his situation and allow him the One Pound Note the Officer took from him on his Apprehension and if any small Allowance could be granted to Assist him, Your Petitioner has a Wife under the same Sentence in the said Goal without Friends, and in the greatest Distress who also Prays and hopes some Relief will be afforded on your Honours Consideration and your Petitioners will ever hope to be sensible and Penitent for their Offence and acknowledge whatever Relief may be granted with Gratitude and your Petitioner be ever bound to Pray William Henry Wilkes, Maria Wilkes Now Gentlemen as you have been pleased to undertake That arduous task of restoring me again to my Family and as I hope the Lord will prosper your undertakings and also your Children as from your feeling for a Poor fellow Prisoner and My Family as I have no doubt you are Fathers of Families Yourselves according to the genrous feeling you have acted to me On Board his Majesty's Ship Justitia Hulk Woolwich Sir I hope you will pardon the liberty I take in soliciting your Interest on the behalf of my Wife, for a Passage to my place of Exile, wch I do beg will not be withheld as she did all in her power to apprehend and have Wm Die taken and which your convinced of, the only recompense that can be wished is your kind intercession in her behalf wch will ever be most gratefully acknowledged by Sir your Ms Obed Hble Serv John Morris Your Petitioner was at the last September Sessions holden at the Old Bailey sentenced together with her husband to be transported for fourteen years she having pleaded guilty to an indictment for having forged Notes of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England in her possession.
Martin Luther King Jr.: Letter From Birmingham Jail
I am suffering here while those escape unpunished that as brought me and many more and are still Doing so and will bring them to the same fate, therefore Sir, I shall feel myself much Honord by an answer to the above request. On the day of his arrest, a group of clergymen wrote an open letter in which they called for the community to renounce protest tactics that caused unrest in the community, to do so in court and not in the streets. It was that letter that prompted King to draft, on this day, April 16, the famous document known as Letter From a Birmingham Jail.
NB Please to copy this off before you go to the bank as I had no more Paper There is Also a Great Many More men in that line near Birmingham I know they Formerly lived at Birmingham but on fear of being detected at Birmingham removed from the town To Handsworth of the Names of Brics a Whole Family and One Savage a Rope Maker by trade and his Family have been in that line for Years 351. [F25/5/78] Note of information, 21 August 1818, prepared by Bank investigator from evidence given by Timothy Lane, on remand in Giltspur Street compter for uttering forged notes. [Sentenced to trspn, Sept. 1818]. Names, addresses and descriptions given. BibGuru offers more than 8,000 citation styles including popular styles such as AMA, ASA, APSA, CSE, IEEE, Harvard, Turabian, and Vancouver, as well as journal and university specific styles. Give it a try now: Cite "Letter from Birmingham Jail" now! Your humble Petitioner further asserts the said William Arnold was tried at Exeter for a quantity of Cloaths wrongfully obtained the Witness against was prevented from appearing by the assistance of his money and a multiplicity of other Criminal transactions too numerous to insert.
Honored Sir, I hope you will not think me pre-dominent by taking the liberty of addressing myself to you it is to inform you I was Convicted at this present Sessions 1819 for uttering a forged one pound Note and was by the Humanity of the Bank allow'd to plead Guilty which Sentenced me to fourteen Years Transportation I beg to State to you that having a Large family and no one to assist me in anyway whatever Induces me to Solicit you to render me some small assistance to provide myself with a few Necessaries to help to assist me on my Voyage to my place of Destination (Honred Sir) hearing of your humanity on all former Occasions Induces me to address myself to you hoping you will take my unfortunate Case into your Kind consideration and you may depend my prayers shall allways be offered up for you and yours It may be recollected before I was Committed I named to Mr Christmas the Inspector I would do everything in my power to place the man in your hands I had the Notes off at that time I thought it would be of very Essensial Service which I would have done but very likely you could not place that Confidence in me it was a Man that I am sure from what I have Collected in the prison and out Doors he is the principle Vender of them Diabolical things were so many poor Creatures are torne from the Comforts of there Wife and family wich is my unfortunate Situation but I hope providence will smile on me in another part of the World; there is a Man which at Certain times in the Week attends regularly at the Crown & Sceptre near Golden Lane and disposes of them to people at this time not the Man himself that I named to Mr Christmas but a Man from the same party you may depend I am not informing you wrong as I am sure of leaving this Cuntry but I do it for the Good of Mankind, I am sure and certain he is the principle Man in them and if I had been allowed at the time I would have put him into your hands I hope you will excuse the liberty I am taking in writing to you in such plain terms the Bearer of this is my Wife and she will be left with three small Children wich I hope and trust you will take into your Kind Consideration I remain with due submission your Obedient and humble Servant Thomas Owen PS I beg leave to state that I had no hand in the Petition to the Court for a Trial as I was satisfied with being allowed to plead to the Minor Charge, you will be pleased to understand that Mr Brown Govr was obliged to move me from the South Side of this Prison to the School as my life was Threatned and they still declare If I go in the same ship they will be my Death, such are my prospects, these Circumstances are all Known to the Govr and how they mean to dispose of me I not yet aware of Honored Sir We beg leave to address you hoping the liberty will be forgiven as our Distress is the cause of troubling you we having being Mercifully Spared thro the Humanity of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England We further entreat your Charity to be extended to us as we are now reduced to the greatest Penury not having a Friend to assist us but entirely Depending on the Goal Allowance our Cloathes being all parted with and being quite Destitute we beg your human Intercession in our Distressed State in hope that Charity my be extended in some Degree as it has been to our Fellow Prisoners who are in the same Situation The truth of our assertion may be proved by the enquiry at the Prison.
Read excerpts from the letter, which was included in Martin Luther King Jrs Man of the Year cover story, here in the TIME Vault: Letter from a Birmingham Jail [BECLS: 1 Mar. 1820, requested investigation of these women and three others; 8 Mar. 1820, relief refused; investigator reported that keeper of Newgate said they were women of the worst description, unworthy of the Bank's bounty and to give them anything now would be a kind of encouragement, they were employed and received part of their earnings every Saturday. ] Sir I am unhappily placed here for Trial for uttering a Forged Ten pound Note, which I have been most Villianiously entrapped into. I hope you will Condescend to call here I will give you Information of the Party, as I understand they are gone in the Country either to pass some or purchase some from the Makers and I every reason to suppose the Person who inveigled me sells them himself Raul, Im not sure what you mean by this article. Im the author of the blog, so if youre quoting from it you would list my name and give the url of this WordPress blog.
] Sir, to Pass unnotised so great an Act of your Goodness and Benevelence Would be the hight of ingratitude in me I therefore beg leave in the best Manner I am Mistress off to return my most Greatfull thanks to you for restoreing me to my long lost Husband and Children Who has been Partakers of my Wretched situation Dureing my late long Confindment which has Exauesed every thing we had in Supporting our large Famaly 2 of our Children Died since my absence and to Add to our troubles the Dockters gives little hopes of my recoverry being in a decline and Traid Very bad for Want of Money to Carri it on Yet Sir in this situation I am thankfull to you for my Liberty and trust in God Whos never failing Goodness that has Protected me these last three Years to bring me through my present difficulty and may that Gratious God Ever Protect and Bless you With a long and happy Life and When he thinks fit to Call you may you enter into Everlasting Bliss is the Prayer and Ever Shall of me and my Famaly I am Sir with all Gratitude your most Obedent and Dutyfull Servant Cathrine Wells Honoured Sir I Humbly beg Pardon for this Intrusion and the Liberty I have taken in Soliciting A Little of that Charity So Humanely Extended (by The Honble Gentlemen of the Bank) to Those In the Like Situation As Myself I would Not have been thus Troublesom but was Obligated through Necessity Not having Any Friends to Render Me the Smallest Assistance And the Little Wearing Apparel I Possest have been forced to Pledge to Procure Subsistance And it will Not be In My Power to Redeem them Unless Kindly Assisted by The Humane Gentlemen of the Bank And Should it be Ever So Trifling they May Be Pleas'd to Bestow on Me Will be thankfully Rcd by their Most Hble And Devoted Servant Esther Bevan Prisoner held for examination [unspecified charge] asks to see his solicitor's clerk.
We beg leave to Subscribe Ourselves Sir your most Humble Servants and Prisoners [Jane Williams, writing in own hand, signs, writes others' names, who sign by mark.
Honorable Gentlemen Hoping you will Pardon the liberty of troubling you in so repeated a Manner but being reduced to the Greatest Distress and having no Friends whatever to Assist me and having parted with all my Cloaths to Support me since my long Confinement and having a Mother who being unable to Support me and now reduced to the Greatest Penury thro my Imprisonment I now beg leave to implore your Charitable and Benevolent kindness to be Extended to me as you have Shewn your Mercy in so great a Degree and be pleased to Allow me a little of that Releif Which you have so Humanely given to my fellow Prisoners who are placed in the same Situation the truth of this may be Certified by the trouble of enquiring at the Prison I beg Leave Honorable Gentlement to Subscribe Myself your Humble and Distressed Servant and Prisoner Mary Pendelton [letter written in prisoner Jane Williams' hand] There is a moral difference between Sheltons killing of his attackers and that of his other victims. Darby and Ames caused personal harm to Shelton and thus gave him the moral right to try and prevent any other future pain that could be caused by these men, but the other victims were combatants in the war that Shelton waged against the system.
Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail Essay
Your Petitionar respectfully takes leave to inform your Honourable Court that she is in absolute want having no means of support besides the Prison allowance. Your Petitioner without attempting to palliate her guilt or to object to the justice of her sentence humbly implores your Honourable Court to take into their merciful consideration the only circumstance which can plead in extenuation of her offence her extreme youth and the influence which a beloved husband must possess over the mind of a young and affectionate wife. Your Petitioner humbly but fervently entreats the Honourable Directors to extend some trifling weekly allowance to a young and helpless female sinking under the accumulated pressure of the severest privations and mental sufferings And your Petitioner will ever pray &c Maria Wilkes [own signature].
Sir I trust you will be pleased to Pardon the Liberty I presume, but being Distressed by my confinement both my Children and me in the greatest distress and Confined to my bed five weeks with the Feavour under Mr Bose care Sir I have one of My Children here in the Prison and the Second with My aged parents at 38 Saffron Hill in Great distress Sir I will be leaving My Country in the Course of six weeks both me and my Children Quiet distressed as I was Obliged to Part my Cloaths to support my Child Sir if you would be Graciously pleased to bestow on me a little of your benevolent Charity your Humble Petioner will be Ever bound to pray Sir I Remain your Most Obedient Humble Servt Mary Hartned Hounerable Gentlemen I hope you will excuse the Liberty I am taking in addressing these lines to you but as I am standing before you as a Criminal and am Commited to newgate untill the sessions and being entirely destitue of money or friends induces me to suplicate your humanity as I have had nothing since I have been Commited but bread and water nor have I any Prospect of reciving anything from any one if you would have the Goodness Gentlemen to take my Distressed Situation into Consideration I should for ever Pray the smallest trifle would be most Gratefuly Recived by your most unhapy and obeident Servant Jane Williams [not in own hand] Sir, I hope you will pardon the Liberty I have taken in Troubling You with these few Lines as I before stated the facts to you, but If any further profes are required I could mention a few more perticulars If Sir you or any other Gentleman of the Bank would be kind enough to Call on Me, I have been Led away to Commit the Crime I am now suffering for, being Drove too it by the Greatest Distress having a sick Childe and A Husband at Sea, the Childe I have wholey to Maintain.
- In a job application, include some specific details about why you are an ideal candidate for the role.
- In a letter of complaint, include a summary of what has happened to prompt your complaint, with names, locations and dates, if necessary.
As a preacher, he knew, too, that he could further build his ethos with pathos, the appeal created by emotionally charged words and vivid imagery imbedded in rhythmic sentences, calling us all, black and white, to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
(137) Honored Gentlemen The distressed Situation in which I am at present Placed Emboldens me to take the liberty of again troubling you with an application to your Charity and Benevolence not having a Friend but and Aged Mother who is a Widow with 3 younger Children and reduced to the greatest distress without any assistance whatever but what proceeds from her Hands which are feeble and Infirm and Humbly assuring you that Distress tempted me to the Crime for which I stand convicted by offending the Laws of my Country and having your great Mercy extended to Me in so great a degree I now farther implore your Charity by having a little releif towards releiving my present necessities as I have parted with all my Cloaths since my long Confinement and having nothing but the Goal Allowance which can be certified by Mr Hardy at the Prison That each of us are deeply impressed with gratitude for the Lenity shewn us on our respective Trials but having no Friends whatever to render us the least Assistance during our continuation in this Prison and no means on our own part to assist ourselves are reduced to the Gaol allowance of 24 Ounces of Bread for each Per Day we most humbly entreat Your Kind interference with the Honourable Directors of The Bank That in their humanity they will please to alleviate our present suffering in such measure as they may think meet and as in grateful Duty bound will ever Pray &c.
Attached: letter from prison keeper refusing visit without permission from Westwood, Bank solicitor's clerk; letter on behalf of J Harmer of 29, Hatton Garden, requesting permission to visit Thorp.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. 2018. Letter from Birmingham Jail. Penguin Modern. London, England: Penguin Classics.
Mr Westwood, I John Riley do take the liberty in writing these few lines to inform you of these People which is Said the head in London for having These Bad Notes and it is Supposed no less than thousands goes thro their hands in a year as i been told since i Came to Newgate and the head man i know well & a few more of the Party and put you in the way of Ketching them with the Notes your Honor i have been 3 weeks in the Hospital and I am not well now i have nothing to Support me but the Gaol allowance and my wife is Starving in like manner And i hope your Honor will take pity on me my wife do not know what this letter is for, and if anything Can be done for me i want no more than to Send me to the Pententiary and i live for my time to be up ishall quit the Country and never to be seen in England no more Be so good as to Send an answer by My Wife if you send or Come to the Prison ihope you will keep this business as secret as you Can for if the Prisoners knew of this Business they Certainly Put an End to me if i dont put in the Right way of Ketching them in the fact i ill wan nothing done for me No more from your Humble Servant John Riley That Your Petitioner is happy to have it in his power to say, that he is borne out in his Statement relative to his Character by the testimonial of his many and respectable Neighbors, whose Names they have been so good as to subscribe hereunto, and whose good wishes accompany his, that Mercy may be extended towards him Your Petitioner in mitigation of Punishment, whereby Your Petitioner may have not a very distant prospect of returning to the Bosom of his Family and Friends.
347. [F25/5/74] Thomas Simcox, unspecified prison [probably in metropolitan Surrey], 1 August 1820, unspecified addressee [see 348]