Civil Disobedience and Letter From Birmingham Jail

Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" is a good example of classical argumentation. He is arguing for his fellow Transcendentalists to act upon their beliefs against slavery. Since the Mexican War was going on, Thoreau picked the perfect time to write. The Mexican War stirred up conflict in the slavery debate because Texas could or could not be a slave state in the end. Thoreau's argument is mainly based on logos and ethos argumentation. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail, however, uses mostly pathos. This is a good example of Rogerian argumentation. He uses a lot of evidence that makes the audience emotionally connect with him like stories of his poor treatment. He also compares his goal to biblical missions to make it seem more important to his audience. For me, Civil Disobedience is more convincing. I think that the logical argument is hard to counter, but the pathos is very misleading and sneaky. King's ethical argument is the strong point of "Letter from Birmingham Jail," but I think Civil Disobedience still has the edge.