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Written by the Second Continental Congress in June, 1776 and accepted with a few revisions in July, 1776 “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America” announced the separation of thirteen Colonies in North America from Great Britain and unification them into the United States. The Declaration remains the most important of all American historical documents: the justification of the American Revolution was presented to the world, the general principles of the theory of government were outlined, the detailed enumeration of specific injustices the thirteen colonies faced was given.
Together with the powerful context the document has a clear organization. The structure of the Declaration and its argument form contributes to its general assumption by the reader and renders the message of the authors; but being a well-structured document, the Declaration has some parts that deserve a reasonable critique. Following below are the evidence of this statement.
The Declaration of Independence consists of five significant parts. Each of them has a key idea; the combination of all of them results in the general importance that the Declaration has.
First comes the Preamble. It describes the extra-ordinary context of the Declaration. Also, it states the purpose of the document that was to explain the reasons for American people to declare independence from the government of Great Britain.
The second part is a synthesis of constitutional and republican government theories accepted by Americans from the 1770s up to the present days. According to them, all men are created equal, none is naturally superior. There are two perspectives that open for people: they either rule or are ruled. People deserve both of them. Equality comes from the fact that human rights are not established by the government, but are inherent to the human nature. Therefore, the fundamental rights are unalienable, and the main concern of the government is to secure them. It is in the people power to choose the government and to change it, but the trivial reasons for doing this are not accepted. This right comes into force when the power becomes destructive and neglects the theory of good government. People always remain the one and only source of the government authority.
The third part of the Declaration of Independence is a list of grievances against King George of England. King George III was responsible for the actions of British government in the colonies in North America. These grievances are illustrations of neglecting the principles of good government. Repeated injuries and usurpations are highlighted as the main features of the British tyranny over the States. As it is seen, this part of the Declaration logically comes out from the previous one. The grievances stated in this part justify the separation from Great Britain thus replacing the King’s bad government by the new good one.
In the fourth part of the Declaration the main attempts to find consensus with the British government and their failure are described. This part states that the American government tried to find a way out from the drastic situation with the colonies but was never heard by the British government. This part serves as the last evidence to support the decision about the separation from Great Britain.
The fifth and the most crucial part of the document under consideration proclaims the intention of Americans to defend their rights. All political connections between the British Crown and the thirteen colonies are dissolved. The colonies are proclaimed independent states. Since now they have the power to announce the war, to conclude peace, to establish commerce. They are empowered to do things which independent states can do.
There is one more section in the Declaration. It does not throw light on the problem itself but its importance cannot be underestimated. This section presents the signatures of the signers: John Hancock’s, who was the President of the Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson’s and John Adams’, two future presidents’, Edward Rutledge’ and fifty-six signers represented by the new states.
Speaking about the Declaration structure we should admit that the document was full of quotation marks that Jefferson used to attract the speaker’s attention. The entire document was divided by Jefferson which contributed to the organizational structure.
The Declaration of Independence is written in the form of an argument. Being signed by the people who followed the traditions of the Age of Reason (XVII century) and the Age of Enlightenment (XVIII century) the Declaration clearly states the democratic truths easily understood by almost every reader. The document has an introductory part, a main body and a conclusion. Statement of premises and assumptions are done in the introduction, the evidence supporting them are presented in the main body. The clear conclusion indicator “therefore” opens the concluding part of the document where the decision about the separation is taken.
Along with its clear structure the Declaration includes some controversial points.
The Preamble, for example does not take into account the fact that the authors of the Declaration and the leaders of the American Revolution were a quite small group of people trying to speak for all.
Next, the second part of the document speaks of the human rights and their equality, but these rights are restricted to relatively few. The authors imply only the benefits in economics that the proclaimed independence will bring to the states.
The third paragraph is full of evidence of the bad government led by King George III. The drawback of this part of the Declaration is that the signers’ anger is directed to one person. The authors realize that reason is rooted in the family feud, therefore, the accusations sound subjective.
Though the Declaration is an adequate response to grievances caused by the British Crown, it serves as a basis for a new myth related to appearance of the new nation – the United States of America. The myth is in the new form that the government acquires, whereas the general state of thing is not changed.
The controversial points stated above do not change the general significance of the Declaration of Independence as a document that identifies America’s core beliefs. The document is a structured unity which makes the democratic assumptions that the paper is based really feasible for the reader. Notwithstanding some contradictions that the Declaration holds it proves its position as the main document in the American history. And logical organization of the document is one of the main factors of the document’s success.
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