Question

Read the excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just.

Why does King use this allusion?
to appeal to his critics’ sense of duty
to describe an historical precedent
to commemorate a famous leader
to encourage a consideration of ethics

Answer 1

to encourage a consideration of ethics

He invokes St. Thomas Aquinas to ground his argument about just vs. unjust laws in well-known moral/philosophical principles, prompting readers (especially religious leaders) to judge segregation on ethical, not merely legal, grounds.