When is Breaking the Law Justified

Throughout America’s history people have been breaking the law. It’s almost always not okay, but every once in a while it is justified. When the government is being unfair to all its citizens, or sometimes just a select group, laws must be broken to fix the problem.

During the American Revolution, the colonies broke many of Britain's laws to show that they wouldn’t put up with their injustice, and that they wanted to be an independent nation. Britain was taking away the colonies natural rights, they were taxing the citizens without consent, they threw their troops into the citizens houses and expected them to feed the soldiers. To fight back the colonies new they had to make there point. First came “The Boston Tea Party” in which American citizens threw all of Britain’s tea of a ship due to the fact that it was going to be taxed. Then came The Declaration of Independence, which declared our separation of Britain. This led to war which eventually led to our freedom.

Even though we were a free nation, not all of our citizens were free. The black population were still treated as second class citizens even in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Many laws at that time were forbidding blacks from using certain bathrooms, eating at certain restaurants, and having to ride on the back of the public bus. Well one woman by the name of Rosa Parks would break that law in 1955 and change the course of the Civil Rights movement. Even though it was against the law for her to sit at the front of the bus, she did, because she new that it was an unjust law that needed to change.

Even though these two events happened in two very different time periods they both had a huge effect on the future of the countries laws. When the 13 colonies decided to break Britain’s laws and declare there independence, they had no idea that they were creating one the strongest nations in the history of the world. When Rosa Parks decided to sit at the front of the bus, I’m sure she had no idea that this event would lead to the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr., and the eventual desegregation of whites and blacks in America.

It is rarely okay to break the law. Some people would probably argue that it is never okay. I don’t see how anyone could say that considering that history has showed us that sometimes breaking the law is what needs to be done to make a change. Sometimes it’s something huge, like declaring independence from a country, and sometimes it’s as small as sitting in the wrong seat on a bus. When breaking the law changes the lives of millions of people for the better, I think its safe to say it was the right thing to do.