Analysis

Analysis of The Declaration of Independence

1.	The offensive diction used throughout text is extremely transparent. 2.	Ethical and Moral 3.	Government’s system when obtaining power 4.	The theme of righteous vs. government**
 * Topics within text

The writers write that “it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government” they argue that after repeated occasions of attempting to resolve the numerous injustices commanded by the King of Britain nothing will change until they take direct action. By emphasizing that it is the right of the people to change their government they remark that “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” and as such **“it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government”.**

To make their purpose appear just the colonists point out that they had attempted to reason with the British parliament in order to come up with a reasonable solution (““In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: **our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”**) In pointing this out the writers of the Declaration of Independence are represented as the m protagonists; whereas the King of Britain is made into a criminal. The long list of disparities only establish a long history of despotic tyranny **(“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations”)**

Fear of change within a society slows the path of progression. In the Declaration of Independent it is written that **“all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”** This relates to a portion of the colonists who only see what they are accustomed to see; by doing this no prior improvements were made. As a result the King of Britain continued his raids of exploitation to the colonists which in turn urged them to separate from the British Crown. //“Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.”//

The character of colonists’ alleged “King” is deemed unworthy in the eyes of the colonist who in the text speak of themselves as //righteous and people of good will//; they later allude to God saying “With a firm reliance on the protection of the divine Providence”. By this the colonists appear to acknowledge that their service no longer belongs to //a prince whose power is obtained through tyranny.// In a despotic government the means of which a tyrant is given powers are through stripping others of their rights, enforcing laws which only cover up their corruption, and fear tactics which are forced upon by a strong army. They describe the King of Britain as(**“A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people")** Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are rights given to people by their creator; for these rights no man can rob another of “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them”.

Throughout the text; the King of Britain and the British Parliament's actions are described by an assortment of derogatory use of diction; making their view extremely direct. In the //list of 27 particular injustices committed by the King of Britain// as well as the British Parliament for they have **“refused… forbidden… suspended… neglected… dissolved… opposing… obstructing… affected… cutting off… imposing… depriving… abolishing… taking away… abdicated… plundered… constrained….”**In the long list of usurpations the King of Britain has vividly been described to have…“plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and //destroyed the lives of our people//.”

The purpose of the long list of trespasses of the King is to appeal to all men; to fill men with a sense of brotherhood that ties them together by their mutual sufferings. Having appealed to its audience the text is followed by the appropriate action that the colonists should take in order to be “Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown. Whereas their British brethren; have been //“deaf to the voice of justice”.// By appealing to "their native justice and magnanimity" and as a result having failed to be heard once more they are given no further alternative then to break away from the British Crown in order to regain their freedom.

Their Declaration ... “ in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that **these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states**; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown”. By being released of their commitment to the British Crown the colonists will be allowed to gather the rights given to other free states //(“full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do”)// The reason for the colonists’ interest to contract alliances and establish commerce is to rid themselves of restraints of being under a oppressor for so long; because of this the colonists are eager to acquire social and political freedom as independent states.

The text ends with the quote **“We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Honor”.** In the course of writing this, the writers of the Declaration of Independence assure their audience that the action of becoming free and independent states relies on the honor of each man. Not only referring directly to the ethics and morality of each man but also the respect they show to the opinions of mankind when declaring the necessity of dissolving the political bands which have connected with another. //It alone is the duty of the people to choose a government who will protect the rights as free men.//



Questions:
 * 1) Why is it that although we are taught to believe in logic we are persuaded by emotions?
 * 2) Why is it that the most of the population would rather endure the hardships under an established government rather then to reform into a government which is unknown to them?

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