Rhetorical Analysis of the Declaration of Independence Essays

Jefferson uses the word “he” continuously while listing the grievances, creating the use of repetition which helps focus the document towards the king by making it personal. By doing so it also gives the colonist a personal outlook on the situation and an outlook on how they feel about the king's actions. Jefferson then switches over to using “for” when listing more actions taken by the king. This also has the same effect but by switching over from “he” to “for” it focuses on the actions themselves and what the colonist are angered by. This can also help to appeal towards the British monarchy and cause them to question their own king and his leadership.

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies of the United States unanimously agreed upon a Declaration of Independence to free themselves of Britain’s tyrannical grasp. This Declaration, authored by Thomas Jefferson, had one sole purpose: to declare the colonies as independent from Britain. To do this successfully, Jefferson skillfully utilized multiple aspects of rhetoric to convey his message. Among the many aspects he uses, the most prominent are his use of tone and pathos, logos and ethos, and makes many stylistic choices throughout the document.

In his document, The Declaration of Independence (1776), Jefferson and the representatives in the general congress proclaim that because all men possess unalienable rights, and due to the transgressions committed by the repressive British King against the people of the 13 colonies, the colonists should be entitled to dissolve all allegiance to the crown of Great Britain, and engender a new nation that “[has] 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”(4). Jefferson supports this proclamation by enumerating the rights of people when both facing and not facing a corrupt government, distinguishing the copious actions of King George

In Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence he uses focal points to help people perceive his document. By showing the failure of the British Crown and demonstrating the rights of the citizens Jefferson is able to get his audience to understand his message clearly. He also uses ethos, pathos, and logos to improve his writing. Thomas Jefferson’s argument was effective in the separation from Great Britain, because he focuses on the failure of the British Crown and the rights of the colonial citizens; through egos, pathos, and logos.

Jefferson outlines the “repeated injuries and usurpations” through anaphora to castigate the king of his wrongdoings against the colonists: “He has” obstructed administration of justice, “He has” made judges dependent of his will alone, “He has” abdicated government here. By listing all the grievances committed by the king, Jefferson creates a credible assertion against oppressive British rule. After his list of grievances, he takes a further step and cites specific measures against the colonists by utilizing another form of anaphora: “For”. He references concrete facts against the king to demonstrate tangible evidence of the King’s abuses: “For” cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, “For” imposing taxes on us without our consent, “For” altering fundamentally the forms of our government. By listing specific acts and misdemeanors such as the Navigation Acts and taxation without representation, Jefferson evokes yet another sense of injustice among the colonists. He once again utilizes personal pronouns to provoke feelings of abuse from the king to the colonists: harassing “our” people, depriving “us” of trial by jury, abolishing “our” most valuable laws, constraining “our” fellow citizens, also displaying harsh connotation in his verb usage. After Jefferson carefully articulates his acumen on colonial sentiments, he

The product of patriotism and diligent acts, a country truly defined by its individuality and unmistakable glory. These few but finest accomplishments were significantly dependent on the document, the one that transformed the true value of what we have become as an independent country: The Declaration of Independence. Many individuals felt a need for change when being governed by the British. Some of these individuals included our Founding Fathers who created this document to make known that the thirteen colonies would fight independently and eradicate being ruled under Great Britain. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson uses allusions, parallelism as well as anaphora to express the struggle and fight for singularity and

1B) The Declaration of Independence uses several rhetorical strategies, making the argumentative testament of the wrongdoings of the king an effective in pursuing equality for all men. Jefferson utilizes logos, pathos and ethos to prove his point to the country holding their liberty prisoner. Jefferson’s use of logos begins with stating the obvious reason the king should set the people free: the people have the right to the pursuit of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (2). The King has not done good to the people, in fact he has refused to pass the laws necessary to create order, dissolved representative houses, cut off trade, and imposed unlawful taxes upon the people. They have the basic human rights given to them by God that should set them free from the tyrannical king. Some of the emotional side of Jefferson’s views slip into this argument, such as "mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable" (5). While stating further wrongdoings, Jefferson’s use of pathos increases, raising the rage of the republic at the injustice of the rules they have been subjected to. “He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation” (26). Jefferson calls for a sense of empathy from the crown and establishes a sense of severe discontent

Composed by Thomas Jefferson and the representatives in the general congress on the historic date of July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was an expeditious response to the many acts legalized by the British Parliament prohibiting the colonists’ freedom, and a dismissal of a partition to the King by the First Continental Congress. Not only did it oppose British acts of tyranny, but it was also an incentive for many other universal revolutions. Within Jefferson’s argumentative masterpiece, “The Declaration of Independence,” he both condemns the British for their repressive actions, and appeals to all developed countries, although predominantly to both the cruel

When looking at the Declaration of Independence and the justifications which Jefferson used in order to encourage the dissolve of the ties between the United Colonies and Great Britain, it becomes apparent how much of the theories of John Locke that Jefferson used as the basis for his argument. Focusing particularly on the second paragraph of the Declaration, the arguments for the equality of each man and the formation and destruction of governments come almost directly from Locke's Second Treatise of Government. The other arguments in the Declaration of Independence deal primarily with each citizen's rights and the natural freedoms of all men, two areas that Locke also spent

In the “Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson uses rhetorical features such as repetition to write an effective argument by disempowering King George and reminding the colonist how King George ruined their lives. For instance, Jefferson states, “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” Jefferson uses repetition to emphasize the word “our” to illustrate how the King George has ruined their lives. He uses the word “our” in an assertive way to express the scandalous operations King George has conducted to improve his being while worsening the lives of the colonist. Jefferson uses rhetorical features to convince the colonist that King George does not have

One reason that The Declaration of Independence was so influential was that Thomas Jefferson’s claims against the King of England were easy to understand and logical. Typical complaints include “For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us;” and “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.” Jefferson uses plain language that everyone can understand to point out large injustices done by the king. His statements about the King are short and to the point. He does not waste any words or bore the reader with abstract writing or excess words and thoughts. He goes from one point to the next to the next in such a fashion that the reader’s concentration is never broken. His points are logical and everyone living in the colonies at that time and many people around the world probably had some idea of the incidents behind all his grievances against the king. Jefferson raps up the injustices done by the king by declaring the United Colonies to be free and independent states.

Jefferson began the document by explaining that the rights of the Americans had been brutally molested by the unjust King of Britain. Following this accusation, he provided evidence of this abuse by listing not just a mere handful, but 27 grievances that the King had inflicted against the colonies. Lastly, the conclusion of this article publishes and declares that the United Colonies have the right to be freed from the British and that they have the right to govern themselves as any free country does. The strategic organization of the Declaration of Independence allowed the colonies to be powerfully represented by such a clear and prudently worded

Jefferson’s purpose for writing the Declaration of Independence was to separate from Great Britain and they need someone to articulate why the Americans were breaking away. The main purpose of this Document was so that Americans can get their

The Declaration of Independence was written for the purpose of separating the American colonies from the British Empire. In context of history, The Declaration was the first step into a modern representative democracy. In addition, the makers of the declaration, primarily Thomas Jefferson, constructed an argument to state the problems they had with Britain and tell how the new American government was going to deal with the problems. The argument Jefferson constructed was one made with all the wrong evidence; however, he built the argument in such a way to rally a people for war. The Declaration of Independence is a well-written example of argument and persuasion with its use of structure as a whole, use of specific fallacies, and use of appeals.

“We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom” stated once Dwight D Eisenhower. Thomas Jefferson, the father of our Declaration of Independence, had the same mentality as him in seeking for freedom. Jefferson decided to write this document as a way of declaring the independence of the United States from Britain. In the document, he states all the harm that Britain has done to the colonists: socially, mentally, and economically. Jefferson just like the colonist wanted peace in their lives, and freedom from the tyranny of King George III. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson uses ethos, pathos, and logos in order to justify their reason of separation from Britain.