Thomas Jefferson's Ethos In The Declaration Of Independence

American Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, in his historical document, The Declaration of Independence, presented problems that were occurring in the seventeenth century, in the colonies. Jefferson’s purpose was to convey the idea that Great Britain was oppressing the North American colonies from moving forward, and that the colonists should make a push to break away from Britain and gain independence. He articulates an angered, but yet encouraging tone, in order to appeal to not only Great Britain, but also the emotions of the colonists to get them on board with his plan.
Thomas Jefferson opens his declaration of the colonies independence, by showing his audience, the colonists, that he is a credible person through the use of ethos. He does

The name that was given to this part of the Declaration of Independence is the List of Grievances. All together there is a total of twenty seven grievances against the king. In grievances one thru twenty seven one can see repetition. In the first thirteen, the words, “He has”, is being repeated. In grievances fourteen thru twenty one, the word that is being repeated changes to the word, “for”. Lastly, in grievances twenty two thru twenty seven, the word that is being repeated changes back to, “he has”. The repetition of these words creates a hammering type of effect, when it is read by the audience. The List of Grievances is full of the rhetorical device logos. Jefferson uses logos in the list because he’s using actually examples that the British king did, to appeal to the logic of the colonists, about why they are separating from Britain. A scholarly article through Penn State, written by Tim Burgoyne, also analyzed the Declaration of Independence. In his analysis he stated, “Further examples of logos is seen in the numerous grievances listed. Every single one of them is one reason why the colonies are choosing to separate from Britain” (Burgoyne). Once again, one can see the use of personification, done thru the capitalization of words, which emphasizes the importance of them. Lastly, while