A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Declaration Of Independence

Rhetorical Analysis of “The Declaration of Independence” Delegate of the Second Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson, in the “Declaration of Independence,” listed the various abuses that the colonies received at the hands of the British government. Jefferson’s purpose was to use the document to notify King George III that they, the thirteen colonies of America, were absconding from the British government. Thomas Jefferson also wanted the document to be used to show other countries that the United States were willing and ready to make alliances and that they should not be looked over. Jefferson used an angry and straightforward tone to show that the colonists are very serious in this decree and that they are more than ready to fight the British

In the line “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form,” (National Archives and Records Administration) Thomas Jefferson is trying to appeal to logic of his audience by saying that the colonies must renounce British rule because Britain has become a tyrannical government and the colonies are through with dealing with the constant and unwavering abuse that they have received at the hands of the British. The lines “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security” (National Archives and Records Administration) are also a major example of logos and are used to reinforce the claim that they must protest British rule because it is in the colonists best interests. Following these lines are a list of offenses against the colonists, any of these lines contain logos and help Jefferson show his audience how shameful it is that the colonists’ own king would do this to them. (Burgoyne) Another rhetorical device, pathos, has heavy use towards the end of the

Jefferson’s use of tone helps show how serious the colonists are in their proclamation that they are leaving the British and that they are tired of all of the events that the colonists have had to deal with during their time as a British colony. When Jefferson states, “They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends,” his tone is angry and straightforward, saying that the King has betrayed their trust many times and that the colonists are through with trying to reason with the