Declaration of Independence

For my document response, I chose to annotate the US Declaration of Independence.

The first thing I noticed was that a lot of words were capitalized, and not just the proper nouns and first word of sentences. Seemingly random words in the middle of sentences were capitalized. I believe that the capital letters are the 1776 equivalent of modern day italics. The words were capitalized because the writer wanted to draw attention to them. For example, in this sentence, "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." the words "creator," "rights," "life," liberty," and "happiness" are capitalized. The writer wanted to draw attention to these words, so he capitalized them.

Next, I found this phrase to be interesting. "We hold these truths to be self-evident." I found this phrase to be interesting. The word "We" give the statement a sense of unity. We say this, therefore, it must be right. We decided this, and it is what we are going to stand by. Then, you get to the word "truth." In general, people like to be the ones with the truth. Truth is something people like having, so, if We, the American colonies, are holding these truths, then it could make the recipient, the British, a bit upset because they do not have the truth. Finally, we come to the word "self-evident." The word self-evident is defined as "containing its own evidence or proof without need of further demonstration," so, therefore, this phrase is saying to the British that, We, the united we, are holding these truths to be something that doesn't need further proof. The whole phrase just radiates defiance and unity from the American people, and the phrase is also very logical. We have these truths, and we don't need to explain them, because they are self-evident. It would be a logos argument.

The next sentence that stood out to me was "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world." First off, this sentence has a capital letter in it that isn't the first word. Facts is capitalized, and, I believe, that this is because the writer intended for that word to stick out. Before this sentence, the writer was talking about how it is the duty of the governed people to rise up against unjust government, and how the British were an unjust government, and how the Americans felt a need to rise up against it. The writer is now saying how there are facts to back up the need for a revolution. Next, there is the phrase "candid world." What does that mean? Well, let's break it down. The word "candid" means "frank; outspoken; open and sincere." So, basically, the writer is saying "Let's send these facts as they are."

Next, there is a lot of repetition. Eighteen paragraphs are started with the phrase "He has." We have eighteen examples of what he, King George the III, has done. He has refused his Assent to the Laws, he has forbidden governors from passing laws, he has refused to pass other laws, he has done this, he has done this. The writer gives a bunch of examples of what King George has done that is not good. He gives eighteen examples of it that start with "he has." I think Thomas Jefferson was trying to make a point.

Also, nine times, the writer starts nine different paragraphs with the word "for." It falls in the middle of the "he has"es, and follows the sentence "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:" Jefferson then goes on to say how he has has done all of this things. The king "combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation," and has did all of these things. Again, Jefferson is talking about all the things King George has done that has led the American colonies to rebellion and revolution.

The next sentence I found funny. "A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." King George is nearly forty years old at this point, and yet, Jefferson used the word "Prince" and capitalized it, drawing attention to it. It feels like he was consciously trying to insult King George. Jefferson, before this sentence was saying how the Americans did what they were supposed to when things got out of hand, but because of a "prince," who is unfit to rule, they had to rebel. The had to have a revolution. Basically, Jefferson decided to pin all the blame on George, and called him a prince, which seems a bit like a slap in the face for the king.

Finally, at the end, we have a bit of an ultimatum. By the last paragraph, Jefferson has gotten to his point. The colonies are not sticking around. He basically is saying that "Since Britain sucks at ruling us, we're going to rule ourselves." He isn't asking for permission. He isn't asking King George if he can leave, he's saying "we're through, bye bye." After that, there's a bunch of signatures. The signatures give the entire letter a sense of solidarity and unity. Thomas Jefferson isn't the only one who feels like this. Fifty-five other people feel the same way. Fifty-five other people are done with Britain too. It feels like a very united way to end the letter.

I hope you enjoyed my analysis of the worlds best break up letter, the US Declaration of Independence, and remember, when leaving a country, remember to insult its leader before you go.