“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”: How changes in the Declaration of independence influenced the document as a whole

The Declaration of Independence is one of the most well-known documents in North America, but the version most people know is the final draft. The first, unedited Declaration was changed quite a lot to become the one we know today, and though most of the changes were small-scale, a word here or a phrase there, they were very influential on the tone and meaning of the document as a whole. Small and medium scale changes in the edited Declaration of Independence changed both the large-scale rhetorical and argumentative structure of the document.
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…” The first line of the Declaration of Independence is perhaps one of the most memorable, as it catches attention and makes the reader feel as if the founding fathers are speaking directly to them. But what if it was different? In this first line, there are already two or three changes being made. One of the biggest in terms of meaning, but possibly the smallest in terms of size, is this: originally, instead of “one people,” the line said “a people.” This is a tiny change, but it makes a huge difference in terms of pathos. The simple change creates a sense of identity with the reader, and causes them to feel more connected to the writer(s). Whereas saying “a people” creates the idea of observing from afar, the phrase “one people” is meant to give the audience a sense of inclusion. It changes the pathos from a kind meant to create anger and awe, and possibly respect, to one to create a sense of unity. It also changes the intrinsic ethos, making them sound more authoritative on the subject. Many small edits of the kind were made to the Declaration.
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..., such as the changing of “a people” to “one people” in the first paragraph or changing “rights” to “Ends” in the second, changed the whole of the document. The first made for more convincing intrinsic ethos, and for a sense of inclusion and more effective pathos. The second humanized the writers. Larger changes had an effect too, such as the deleted paragraph that caused a large impact on the aim of the paper as a whole, and on the argumentative structure, and the change from “his present majesty” to “the King of Britain”, which made the intentions of the document perfectly clear if they weren’t clear enough already, and was part of the logos of the document. These changes, and so many more like them, made a difference to the overall tone of the document and the overall structure, and if they hadn’t been there we would most likely have a very different Declaration.