Personification In The Declaration Of Independence

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A Masterpiece Thomas Jefferson composed The Declaration of Independence in 1776. The purpose of this document was to explain to both foreign countries and the people of America why separating from England had to happen and to ultimately get them [the people] to agree to a revolution. Thomas Jefferson made The Declaration of Independence a stylistic and artistic masterpiece through his powerful word choice, the use of personification and the sentence structures used throughout the document. The powerful word choice that Jefferson used throughout the document ultimately made the people feel as if they HAD to enter this revolution against England. Jefferson writes, “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 word “necessary” was an extremely powerful word during the 18th century. If something was necessary meant that it was no longer under the control of anyone. Chambers’s Cyclopedia defines necessary as “that which cannot but be, or cannot be otherwise”. Jefferson described the Revolution as “necessary “, making the people feel as if this was something that couldn’t be avoided; the people had no other choice but to agree to a Revolution against England. This powerful word style persuaded the people into agreeing. Thomas Jefferson also uses the stylistic and artistic method of personification in his document, The Declaration of Independence. The use of personification makes the reader feel as if what they are reading directly impacts their personal life. The preamble states, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, t... ... middle of paper ... ... New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power...”. The repetition of the word “He” at the beginning of each line causes it to read as if it is a poem or a song. The style of this section of the document is very flowing making it easy to read while also getting the overall point, that King George has been abusing his power, across. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence to persuade the people to agree to a Revolution against England using powerful word choice, personification and parallelism in his sentence structure. The use of these methods makes the Declaration of Independence a stylistic and artistic masterpiece.

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