An Analysis of The Declaration of Independence Stephen King says, “To write is human, to edit is divine.” Mr. King’s claim carries considerable weight for many, engendering an angelic sense of duty to the written word. This duty was felt most strongly during the American revolution, with every word eliciting the potential for the boom of a thousand cannons. It was at this crucial turning point in American history that Thomas Jefferson was tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence, arguably one of the most influential documents in history. The changes made to the draft of the Declaration regarding capitalization, for emphasis, and the deletion and modification of specific words and phrases, for inspiring a sense of unity, create synergy, …show more content…
In the final draft, however, there is double the amount of capitalized words simply in the first paragraph, nearly all of which are words contained within a sentence rather than beginning one. This shift in capitalization is not an err on the part of the editor, rather, it is an effective tool which is utilized to place emphasis on particular words. For example, the original draft does not capitalize “laws of nature”, while the final draft does. The capitalization of this phrase stresses the importance of these laws, a divine set of rules governing the moral and ethical implications of an individual’s choices and actions, in the everyday workings of society, in essence giving credibility to the founding fathers who seek to employ them. A similar situation is observed with the capitalization of “life” and “liberty” in the final draft. The capitalization of these words signifies the overarching presence these rights have among civilization, perhaps given to one by the Laws of Nature, and the undeniable status of which they acquire. However, the changes in capitalization in the original draft of the Declaration are not alone in their ability to make the final draft more