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Rhetorical Devices In Thomas Jefferson's Declaration Of Independence

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In Thomas Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence,” he uses rhetorical devices to convey his purpose which is to say that colonies have decided to break their bond with the King and Great Britain and to explain their reasoning. One of the devices used the most to convey his purpose was parallelism. Jefferson also uses repetition to make his reasons clear. Some might think that his use of restatement further makes his points clear; however, they are wrong. Jefferson uses rhetorical devices like parallelism and repetition to explain the reasonings of the Colonists decision to break their bonds with the King and Britain. Jefferson's use of parallelism helped clarify his message to the King. His strategy to use phrases in a similar structure …show more content…

Jefferson explains some of the King’s actions to make them submit to him. These are some of the reason why the Colonist have decided to break their bonds with Britain. Another example is:
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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.
Jefferson uses repetition by using same words to educate the King with what they believe in and hoping that these beliefs are enough for the King to agree with the decision of the Colonists to break apart from them without causing any bloodshed. The repeated words purpose was emphasize the feelings of Jefferson for his beliefs to change the King’s attitude of keeping the Colonist as resources for Britain and let the Colonist have their freedom. Finally, Jefferson uses restatement; Other people think that he used it effectively because it makes his message clearer and stress on key points.

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