Declaration of Independence of the USA - Essay Example

?Mengda Cao English 1C Steele May 22, Essay #2 Liberation Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence of the United s of America. His writing in that piece is considered one of the strongest pieces of writing in history. The Declaration gave the independence and liberation of the United States an entirely new status on the world stage. It also declared the colonies intention to secede from the British commonwealth. In addition to what it accomplished at the time, the Declaration of Independence has become one of the most influential documents in all of history. Many other countries and organizations have attempted to create documents with similar structures of language and tone. The Declaration of Independence has also played an important part in the history of the United States. The language that Jefferson used and the ideas that he espoused influenced numerous presidents and political leaders to this day. Abraham Lincoln considered the Declaration of Independence to be the very foundation of his political philosophy. It was the Declaration of Independence that explained the significance of liberation for the colonists in the United States. There are a number of facts presented in the Declaration of Independence that prove why this liberation was ultimately necessary for the colonies (Kelly). The tone of the Declaration of Independence suggests that it was intended to be a persuasive document to be read by many different audiences. The tone is indirect, i.e., the primary purpose of the piece is not fully disclosed until the end of the argumentation. In persuasive essays, the author uses facts and evidence to bolster his argument and to prove to the reader the truthfulness of his point of view. These facts and evidences also create the context of the main theme of the argument. They may also influence the reader to accept the core message of the essay. Thomas Jefferson followed this pattern by allowing the opening and body to lead up to the main idea of the Declaration of Independence, which he left for the end. He drafted it so that it would persuade his readers that the liberation of the colonies was a significant betterment for the people, politically, financially, and socially.He begins by describing the reasons why the colopnies wanted to separate from the rule of England and its monarchs. He opens with a very wide scope that involves the rules of nature as justification for the colonies' independence and he contrasts this idea with the rules of man that England uses to impose its will on the colonies. Jefferson states that God created all men as equals and gave them the ability to think and decide their destinies for themselves. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. This sentence alone places the Declaration of Independence among the best-known sentences in the English language. Tn addition to the poetry of the prose, the ambit of its argument is so braod and powerful that it merits such consideration. Jefferson proceeded to back this statement of principle with factual evidence to further build his arguments for colonial independence. The facts provided were presented in such a manner that they were intended to be effective tools in persuading Jefferson's audience. For example, Jefferson initially admits that changing a long established government should not be done for causes that are not material, but if the government does not change its behavior and uses its power against the will of the people, and does this repeatedly, then it becomes the right and duty of the people being governed to remove the government and obtain new protectors to ensure the security of their future (Selzer). This evidential appeal helped support the Declaration of Independence's status in history. After making this initial declaration of intent, and setting forth the basic points of his main argument, Jefferson provides a list of facts that constitute a significant portion of the Declaration of Independence. This list of facts includes certain concrete evidences that add to the effectiveness of Jefferson's arguments. Some of the facts that he includes outline the steps that could have been taken by the government to better the situation of the colonists and that were not taken. For example, the king refused to agree to laws that were necessary for the public good, he forbade governors to pass laws of immediate importance without royal consent, and he proceeded to neglect any such petitions. Jefferson also suggested that the king had dissolved the Representative Houses repeatedly for his own benefit while ignoring the rights of the people. The question of naturalization was also raised. Jefferson pointed out that naturalization was discouraged in certain colonies to increase the risk to the population of having their land appropriated. The king also intervened in the decisions of judges whose judgments were subject to approval by the king. This interference created difficulties in the passage and enforcement of laws in the colonies. There are other facts, too, that proved the government's reluctance to improve the situation of the people, namely a desire to build an empire over the requirements of the people. After highlighting the negligence of the king regarding the rights of the people, Jefferson provided arguments about the oppression inflicted on the people by the king. According to Jefferson, the people of the colonies were oppressed by standing armies even in times of peace. The people were declared to be outside the protection of the king and were forced to obey the kings fiat to commit acts they would not otherwise have chosen to commit (wills). Humble petitions to change the situation were repeatedly ignored by the king and the government of England. In response to this list of oppressions and violations perpetrated by the king and parliament on the colonists, Jefferson explained that the British were too long reluctant to respond to the voices of protest raised by the people in the colonies. He further declared that the colonies are, and should be free and that all the rights held by them should be the same as those held by any independent state. Most importantly of any argument Jefferson made in the Declaration of Independence was the final declaration of independence itself. The declaration that all allegiances of the colonies to the British Crown were declared to be absolved. Because Jefferson began with a statement of ideals followed by a series of arguments and evidences to make his final point of declaring independence, it can be inferred that the Declaration of Independence is a persuasive document. It creates a context such that the reader becomes ready to accept the facts to which it leads, the facts that outline the importance of the liberation of the colonies from Great Britain. These facts and evidences are embedded in such a manner that they keep the reader attached to the context of the entire document and in so doing preserve the continuity of the document for the purposes of argument. Using these persuasive techniques, the Declaration of Independence achieves its mission of declaring its core message in a very influential way. Works Cited Kelly, M. Declaration of Independence. About.com. Web. 14 May 2011. HYPERLINK http://americanhistory.about.com/od/declarationofindependence/a/declaration_sp.htm Selzer, J. Argument in America: essential issues, essential texts. Pearson/ Longman, 2004. Print. Wills, G. Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002. Print. Read More