From reading the Declaration of Independence I have concluded there to be three sections. The first section is used to immediately establish the disconnect between the Americans and the British. It continues into describing the basis of a government and that the government is made for the people not the other way around and while it should be respected, if it no longer is for the people then the people have the right to break it down and start anew. The first section ends with a hard accusation against the then king of Great Britain. After this accusation, begins the second section of this document in which there are supporting examples of the accusation from the first section. Since the basis of a government was explained in the first section, the second section is used as a way to detail what the then king of Great Britain did that went against what was described at the beginning. This section was also written in a specific way that as you read every claim, they only get harsher and harsher. I believe this was to show how deplorable the abuse was for the Americans so that by the end of section two you cannot help but agree with them. Section three is the concluding section of this declaration where they make it clear that this was the last resort which supports their claim in section one about not changing a government for petty reasons. They make an emphasis that they have tried to resolve these issues in a civil manner but have only been ignored. This part of the section is important because it highlights that after endless amount of time and effort put into trying to resolve these problems and only getting ignored as a result, all this conflict can only be blamed on Great Britain. This section ends with a declaration of total and complete separation between the colonies and Great Britain and the acknowledgment of the new independent country, the United States of America.
The way this document was formatted is what makes it persuasive to me. While it establishes a disconnect right from the beginning it was not really declared what the severity of it was. Then the document details about what a government is and that it is most natural to abolish it if it is not serving the people. The document is slowly leading up to what it really is about and then it kind of shocks you when it makes that bold accusation and then continuing it with pure evidence supporting it. But then after it brings you back down and makes you pity the Americans when they detail how much they tried to resolve these conflicts. I believe it was a very emotion inducing document at that time. It makes you curious at the beginning, then you agree with what a government is, it shocks you at the bold claim, then riles you up with the supporting evidence, and then it brings you back down into agreeing with them.
One claim that I feel is utmost relevant with America right now is “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness”. This is especially relevant now because of all the protests happening because of abuse of power of the government. Everybody is more aware of the many ways that the government is violating many of our rights and that abolishing and creating a new system is the only way to fix the corrupt system.
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