Rhetorical Analysis of the Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson, former president of the United States, in his document, the Declaration of Independence, establishes U.S. independence. Jefferson’s purpose is to declare that the American people were not going to stand for despotism. He adopts a professional tone in order to …in the U.S. Congress and the people of America. Jefferson begins his document by acknowledging that Americans have “certain unalienable Rights… Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” He appeals to the logic of the audience by expressing that all men were given these rights that “[derive] their just powers from the consent of the governed”; that all men are equal and that God gave them those rights. He uses God as a way to convince his audience a make his document more effective. He then shifts to the tyrannical King George III and what he was doing. Jefferson utilizes anaphora to do so. He goes on about the king “refus[ing] to pass other Laws for… large[r] districts of people” and that King George has “kept… Standing Armies without the Consent of legislature.” Jefferson ends with how the American people were “petition[ing] for Redress” and that each one was shot down. He states that “we have warned them… of attempts by their legislature to extend and unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.” He appeals to ethos that they “pledge to each other [their] Lives… Fortunes and… sacred Honor” meaning that they were men that would risk everything to support the rights of the American men. Jefferson has a very powerful tone when he states that the nation will not follow the despot King George III.