Declaration of Independence

National Archives and Records Administration -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence by Stephen E. Lucas The Declaration of Independence is perhaps the most masterfully written state paper of Western civilization. As Moses Coit Tyler noted closely a century ago, no assessment of it hindquarters be complete without taking into account its extraordinary merits as a work of political prose style. Although many scholars have recognized those merits, there are surprisingly few sustained studies of the stylistic artistic production of the Declaration.(1) This essay seeks to illuminate that artistry by probing the discourse microscopically--at the level of the sentence, phrase, word, and syllable. By approaching the Declaration in this way, we can shed light both on its literary qualities and on its rhetorical power as a work intentional to convince a candid world that the American colonies were justify in seeking to establish themselves as an independent nation.(2) The textual matter of the Declaration can be divided into five sections--the introduction, the preamble, the indictment of George III, the denunciation of the British people, and the conclusion.

Because space does not permit us to explicate each section in full detail, we shall ask features from each that illustrate the stylistic artistry of the Declaration as a whole.(3) The introduction consists of the first paragraph--a single, lengthy, periodic sentence: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to recess the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and touch station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.(4) taken out of context, this sentence is so general it could... If you want to impart a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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