Philosophical Legal Theory: Analyzing the Rhetoric in Civil Rights Speeches by King and Wallace
While Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) is remembered as a hero in the Civil Rights struggle, it is important to keep in mind that, during his time period, he was vilified by many who claimed that his efforts to secure equality for African-Americans were somehow unnatural. One of his most vocal opponents was George Wallace (Wallace), the governor of Alabama, who ran on a platform of opposing integration. This analysis will examine speeches by each of these men, who were diametrically opposed in their approach to Civil Rights: MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech and Wallace's January 14, 1963 inaugural address. In their speeches, both men used the same philosophical and rhetorical appeals to try to forward the moral, legal, and ethical correctness of their respective positions.
The analysis will begin with a discussion of Wallace's speech, because, in many ways, it reflected the prevailing sentiment among white people in the Deep South during that time period. Wallace does not believe that positive law should trump natural law. He believes that whites have a God-given superiority that is part of natural law, and that these divinely given rights should be the source of law,...
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