The Declaration of Independence

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Its extraordinary merits as a work

of political prose

Five sections

1.      introduction,

• 2.      preamble,

• 3.      indictment of George III,

• 4.      denunciation of British people, and

• 5.      conclusion.

Intro (one sentence)

• elevates quarrel from petty political dispute to major event

• dignifies Revolution as contest of principle • implies American cause has special claim to moral

legitimacy– —all without mentioning England or America by name.

• philosophical objectivity• "necessary”: deterministic • labeling Americans "one people" and British

"another"

Preamble

• also universal in tone and scope; no explicit ref to B-A conflict

• five sentences—202 words

• stately and dignified tone —from eighteenth century Style Periodique

• Jefferson's readings

• structural unity

How is it unified?

• Proposition 1: All men are created equal.• Proposition 2: They [all men, from proposition 1]

are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

• Proposition 3: Among these [man's unalienable rights, from proposition 2] are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

• Proposition 4: To secure these rights [man's unalienable rights, from propositions 2 and 3] governments are instituted among men.

• Proposition 5: Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [securing man's unalienable rights, from propositions 2-4], it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.

Indictment of King George

• transitional sentence

• first explicit reference to British-American conflict

• parallel structure reinforces the parallel movement of ideas

• proof ("let Facts be submitted to a candid world. ")

• facts = current meaning of something that had actually occurred

• word also derived from the Latin facere, to do. Its earliest meaning in

• English was "a thing done or performed"--an action or deed. –

• (evil deed, in this case)

Denunciation of British People

• "Nor" shifts attention from George III to the colonists' "British brethren."

• "have we" of first sentence neatly reversed in the "We have" at start of second.

• closing words--"Enemies in War, in Peace Friends"--employ chiasmus

• much alliteration: – "British brethren," "time to time," "common kindred,"

"which would," – "connections and correspondence."

Final section

• coupling of "our sacred Honor" with "our Lives" and "our Fortunes" creates trilogy

• concept of honor

• final sentence completes metamorphosis

• impersonal, even philosophical voice – to –

• drama and tensions