Name:
American Literature
Date:
Period:
The Declaration of Independence
Title
Thomas Jefferson
Author
July 4th-August 2nd 1776
Date
Purpose/objective of document:
Main idea(s):
Rhetorical Analysis:
Structural Analysis: The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson (1776)
Preamble: Introduction, purpose of the document. When one group of
people wants to dissolve political bonds with another, they must tell them
why. Heavy ethos appeals
Statement of natural rights: Lays down the initial premises of the
argument: the self evident truths, upon which the logical argument will
be built.
●
All men are created equal; they are endowed by God with
unalienable rights; these include life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.
●
Governments are instituted to preserve these rights; governments
derive their power from the consent of the people they govern.
●
If governments fail to secure these rights, or are destructive of
them, the governed have a right to change or dissolve their
government, and establish one to secure their natural rights.
Prudence (caution and practicality) dictates that governments shouldn’t
be dissolved for light or transient reasons. When abuses and usurpations
go too far, and despotism or tyranny is on the rise, people have a right
and duty to rise up against it. The king has committed these abuses. We
submit the evidence of this government’s failures and abuses to a
candid world.
Grievances: Lists all of the abuses of the king, in order of increasing
severity. He has:
●
refused to pass laws for the public good, dissolved political offices,
instated his own officers, allowed them to be abusive…
●
...
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burning towns, ravaged coasts, plundered seas, death, desolation,
tyranny, captured sailors and forced them to kill their own families,
or else be killed by them.
Attempts at Resolving conflict:
Explains attempts to resolve the conflict without war. Includes:
●
formal petitions for redress (compensation for wrong doing) and
informal appeals to justice, kindness and shared ancestry
●
Though he acknowledges that we were once brethren (brothers),
the American people have been forced to regard them now as
they would anyone else: as friends in peace, and enemies in war.
Resolution of Independence: Appealing to the Supreme Judge of
the world (God) for the rectitude (righteousness) of our intentions. With
the authority of the good people of these colonies, we dissolve our
bonds with Great Britain and the crown, with the freedom to create our
own nation. We trust in divine providence and pledge to each other our
lives, fortunes and sacred honor.
Summary: The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson (1776)
Preamble: When in the course of human events one nation of people
wants to separate themselves from another, and assume among the
powers of the earth their rightful, God-given, natural place as an
independent nation, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
dictates that you have to tell them why.
Statement of natural rights: Lays down the initial premises of the
argument: the self evident truths, upon which the logical argument will
be built.
●
All men are created equal; they are endowed by God with
unalienable rights; these include life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.
●
Governments are instituted to preserve these rights; governments
derive their power from the consent of the people they govern.
●
If governments fail to secure these rights, or are destructive of
them, the governed have a right to change or dissolve their
government, and establish one to secure their natural rights.
Concession: (acknowledges the truth or value of the opposition)
Prudence dictates that governments shouldn’t be dissolved for light or
transient reasons.
Counterclaim: This is obvious; experience shows us that people will suffer
while things are sufferable, and won’t change the status quo without
good cause.
When abuses and usurpations go too far, and despotism or tyranny is on
the rise, people have a right and duty to rise up against it.
The king has committed these abuses. We submit the evidence of this
government’s failures and abuses to a candid world.
Grievances: Lists all of the abuses of the king, in order of increasing
severity. He has:
●
refused to pass laws for the public good, refused representation,
appointed judges who answer only to the king, dissolving local
government and refusing to reinstate it
●
Created new political positions and appointed British people,
sending “swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their
substance”
●
established tyrannical control in Canada
●
abdicated (neglected) his role as protector and instead waged
war on his own people.
Summary: The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson (1776)
●
●
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“He has plundered our seas. ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns
and destroyed the lives of our people”
“he is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries
(soldiers) to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny,
already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy
(treachery) scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous (savage) of
ages, and totally unworthy of the head of a civilized nation”
“He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high
seas to bear arms against the country, becoming the executioners
of their friends and brethren (brothers), or to fall themselves by their
hands (or to be killed by them).
Attempts at Resolving conflict:
Counterclaim: Explains attempts to resolve the conflict without war.
Includes:
●
formal petitions for redress (compensation for wrong doing)
●
appeals to consanguinity (shared ancestry)
●
to the British sense of justice and magnanimity (generousness of
spirit). None have been successful.
●
Though he acknowledges that we were once brethren (brothers),
the American people have been forced to regard them now as
they would anyone else: as friends in peace, and enemies in war.
Resolution of Independence: Therefore, we resolve our
independence, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world (God) for
the rectitude (righteousness) of our intentions. With the authority of the
good people of these colonies, we dissolve our bonds with Great Britain.
We will no longer have any allegiance to the British Crown. As a
sovereign nation, the United States will have the rights of any nation: to
establish alliances, engage in commerce, (trade deals) and declare war.
“and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of divine providence (God’s will for the future), we mutually
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”