Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson
Rhetoric and Style:
1. Identify each of the truths indicated
2. Identify each of the rights indicated
3. Identify the subject and predicate of the first sentence of the Declaration.
4. Identify a major assumption underlying the first sentence. What is the rhetorical principle at
work?
5. What effect does the phrase “self-evident” have in sentence 2? How does that phrase help
support the speaker’s position?
6. Why does the speaker begin with an appeal to “respect” as a value before stating the claim?
7. Consider the speaker’s appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos. Identify and explain two for each.
8. Read carefully the second and third “truths.” At that time, was it a historical fact that the
governments were instituted for the purpose the speaker states? What was the rhetorical
purpose of such a statement?
9. Explain how the speaker uses facts to appeal to logos.
10. Explain the effect of the rhetorical parallelism and with which Jefferson concludes the
Declaration.
Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson
Rhetoric and Style:
1. Identify each of the truths indicated
2. Identify each of the rights indicated
3. Identify the subject and predicate of the first sentence of the Declaration.
4. Identify a major assumption underlying the first sentence. What is the rhetorical principle at
work?
5. What effect does the phrase “self-evident” have in sentence 2? How does that phrase help
support the speaker’s position?
6. Why does the speaker begin with an appeal to “respect” as a value before stating the claim?
7. Consider the speaker’s appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos. Identify and explain two for each.
8. Read carefully the second and third “truths.” At that time, was it a historical fact that the
governments were instituted for the purpose the speaker states? What was the rhetorical
purpose of such a statement?
9. Explain how the speaker uses facts to appeal to logos.
10. Explain the effect of the rhetorical parallelism and with which Jefferson concludes the
Declaration.
Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson
Rhetoric and Style:
1. Identify each of the truths indicated
2. Identify each of the rights indicated
3. Identify the subject and predicate of the first sentence of the Declaration.
4. Identify a major assumption underlying the first sentence. What is the rhetorical principle at
work?
5. What effect does the phrase “self-evident” have in sentence 2? How does that phrase help
support the speaker’s position?
6. Why does the speaker begin with an appeal to “respect” as a value before stating the claim?
7. Consider the speaker’s appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos. Identify and explain two for each.
8. Read carefully the second and third “truths.” At that time, was it a historical fact that the
governments were instituted for the purpose the speaker states? What was the rhetorical
purpose of such a statement?
9. Explain how the speaker uses facts to appeal to logos.
10. Explain the effect of the rhetorical parallelism and with which Jefferson concludes the
Declaration.