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An Analysis Of Stephen King's The Declaration Of Independence

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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

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The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, and Speech to the Virginia Convention by Patrick Henry compare in many different ways. Regardless of the fact that Patrick Henry’s piece was a speech and Thomas Jefferson’s was a legal document they both used rhetorical devices effectively to convey their message and persuade their audience. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was writing it so that it would stand the test of history. He made it a concrete document by using repetition and parallelism. In Henry’s speech, he was aiming to convince the delegates at the Virginia Convention to begin preparation for war With Britain.

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A variety of qualified people were chosen to write the Declaration of Independence, but in the end, Thomas Jefferson was appointed. The final draft was supposed to be inspiring through its language to give people hope and freedom. With this in mind, Thomas Jefferson had a lot of pressure being the author of the final draft. A woman, who was his landlady, recorded in her journal about hearing his conflict at the time. She wrote about how she listened to him pacing frantically upstairs, trying to think of what to inscribe.

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Within Benjamin Banneker’s letter, he implements pathos in order to illustrate the unjust and hypocritical actions of Thomas Jefferson, in order to exhibit that Jefferson, of all people, should be understanding and ashamed of the fear and injustice which he is imposing. Banneker inflicts these emotions through allusions and flashbacks. The United States was once under the British control, leaving the United States feeling helpless, fearful, and impotent. During this time period, Thomas Jefferson, took part in writing the Declaration of Independence, a document which states the equality of men and the justification of freedom. Banneker alludes to the Declaration in the seventh paragraph to exhibit the hypocrisy which Jefferson demonstrates.

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Over the course of American history, society has dealt with many flaws, and dilemmas. In Source B, it illustrates that Abigail Adams, John’s wife, wanted the Continental Congress to remember the ladies when they write The Declaration of Independence. In Source C, it rationalizes how slaves didn’t have equal rights as white men, and the petition is trying to give their natural rights back. Furthermore, in Source D, a miniseries that depicted John Adams life, given particular the Revolutionary War. This source allows the viewer to visualize the conflicts that the Continental Congress had, with the colonists, and the British.

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The Age of Reason is a name used to describe the age that influenced the American Statesmen of the Revolution. Taxes forced upon the colonists by Britain after the French and Indian War enraged the colonists, leading to the Revolution that would change the world forever. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine’s The Crisis Number 1 were two very important works of literature during the Revolutionary period. Both works used persuasion effectively.

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When the U.S. Declaration of Independence was written, it was generalized towards one group: white, preferably European, males. As years passed and the United States grew into a well-known nation, it was still clear that this group was getting more rights than others. This group created the idea of intersectionality to anyone who did not fit inside their parameters of being the typical the Euro-American white male. Everyone should be getting free rights, but this was not the case, until the other groups started fighting back. The women of the United States were one group who stood up and fought for their rights, ending women’s suffrage.

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When writing any sort of essay, letter, or declaration one always starts with a draft. A draft allows a person to fix grammatical mistakes, check tone, and to add or delete sections to help your overall work. The Declaration of Independence, one of America’s most important documents also went through a couple drafts before it was finally sent to the king. One significant change from the original draft to the final draft was the deletion of a passage about slavery.

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During the writing of one of the most important historical documents, the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson made quite a few changes. The changes that he made were all for the sake of compromise and to come to an agreement among the colonies. If those changes were never made, America may not have been like we know it to be today. When you compare the original version of the Declaration of Independence to the revised version, you will come to understand why we made the changes he did. One of the most significant changes he made was completely cutting out a large section that was against the use of slavery.

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Revisions in the Declaration of Independence Like most papers, documents, and essays, the Declaration of Independence had a first draft before it was published the way we now know it. Rather than having a teacher or a peer edit it, however, it was done so by a whole Congress of people. Very few parts of the document remained untouched, and virtually every well-known phrase from the Declaration was edited in some form from its original version. However, the allowing of it to be edited proved crucial, for after Jefferson originally created the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, congress altered large parts of it, including removing whole paragraphs, which was crucial in it getting the amount of signatures required to be passed.

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The more powerful members of the committee, specifically Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, insisted that Thomas Jefferson was the better writer of the group and should be responsible for the composition of the document, with the others being advisors. Jefferson maintained, historically, that he did not use any pamphlets or books in writing the declaration. However, the ideas contained within the final document certainly reflected not only the writings of John Locke, but also the sentiments put forth in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Jefferson and the other members of the committee did not live in a vacuum.

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The writers of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson and others, hoped that their document would be as successful as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, in the sense that it would change many people’s mindset about

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Declaration of Independence Precis Thomas Jefferson in his historical document, The Declaration of Independence (1776), asserts that the colonies should break free from Britain’s tyranny. Jefferson supports his assertion through the use of anaphora, parallel structure, imagery, emotional appeal to patriotism, and logical appeal to the colonist’s basic rights. Jefferson’s purpose is to advocate for the separation of Britain and the colonies in order to escape the British tyranny that King George imposes on the American colonists. Jefferson writes in a measured tone for the British parliament, King George, and for colonists who have been a victim of Britain’s oppression.

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The Declaration of Independence is an extremely important document to the United States. Thomas Jefferson receives the most credit for writing the declaration, however he was assisted by five other men that were apart of the Constitutional Congress. They wrote the declaration to persuade the colonist to break free from Britain. The Declaration of Independence uses numerous persuasive appeals and language, including parallelism, pathos, and ethos. Parallelism is “a pattern in writing in which words and phrases are similar in structure, one echoing another.”

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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. This statement by the Founding Fathers is the core disagreement between the 13 Colonies and Great Britain. Throughout this historical document, there are multiple arguments made to get the authors’ point across. The authors’ effectively use logos, ethos, and pathos to contribute to the formation of the concluding argument. Logos is used because the thesis is straight to the point and it is supported throughout the entire document.

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During the writing of “The Declaration of Independence”, Thomas Jefferson go to great lengths to describe why the colonies were choosing to separate themselves from Great Britain. This is done not only so readers will have a detailed description of what the American people were facing while being ruled by the King. The vivid depiction of all the cruelty he has shown towards the people. Furthermore, the lengthy, highly descriptive examination of all the wrongs and showing that the colonists made many appeals to the King but also the people of Britain that the reader now feels as if it is wrong for the Colonies to be under Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson begins by detailing the ethical standings of all people that live within the colonies.

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