Declaration of Independence :: essays papers

resolving of libertyThe Declaration of Independence is perhaps the most masterfully written catalogue of Western civilization. This essay seeks to illuminate thatartistry by probing the talk over microscopically at the level of thesentence, phrase, word, and syllable. By approaching the Declaration inthis way, we can shed light both on its literary qualities and on itsrhetorical power as a work designed to lead the the Statesn coloniesthey were justified in seeking to establish them as an nonsymbioticnation. The introduction consists of the first paragraph a single,lengthy, periodic sentence When in the Course of pitying events, itbecomes necessary for genius people to dissolve the semipolitical bands whichhave connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of theearth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of record andof Natures God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions ofmankind requires that they should harbour the causes which impel themto the separation. Taken out of context, this sentence is general itcould be use as the introduction to a declaration by anyone. Seenwithin its authoritative context, however, it is a model of refinement, andsuggestion that worked on several levels of meaning and allusion. Thisorients readers toward a favorable view of America and prepares themfor the fill-in of the Declaration. It dignifies the Revolution as achallenge of principle. The introduction identifies the purpose of theDeclaration as simply to declare to announce publicly in explicitterms the causes impelling America to leave the British Empire.Rather than presenting one side in a public controversy on which goodand decent people could differ, the Declaration claims to do no morethan a natural philosopher would do in reporting the causes of anyphysical event. The issue, it implies, is not one of interpretation,but one of observation. The most important word in the introduction isnecessary. To say an influence was necessary implied that it was impelledby fate or determined by the operation of foolproof natural laws. TheRevolution was not merely preferable, defensible, or justifiable. Itwas as inescapable, as inevitable, and as unavoidable within the courseof human events as the motions of the tides or the changing of theseasons within the course of natural events. The Revolution, withconnotations of necessity, was in particular important because,according to the law of nations, recourse to war was lawful sole(prenominal) whenit became necessary. The notion of necessity was important that, inaddition to appearing in the introduction of the Declaration, it wasinvoked twice more at crucial junctures in the rest of the text.