Declaration of Independence

The reading over the Declaration of Independence was sort of like a sandwich. At the beginning, or the top piece of bread, it was very opinionated. The main point of the first few paragraphs was that when it comes time for a group of people (the colonies) to break away from their political bonds (England), they need to do it formally and present all of their reasons for seceding. The next part of the text was basically a list of all of the reasons that the colonists wanted to secede. It was a somewhat boring passage, and I'm not gonna lie, I spaced out a little bit during the middle. Many of the reasons that the colonists wanted to break away from England had to do with fair treatment. They were not happy about the unfair taxation that they were facing, but they really didn't think about it from England's perspective. After the Seven Years' War, England had a huge war debt that they were forced to pay off. They decided to ignore their policy of salutatory neglect and take charge over the colonies by taxing them. It really probably wasn't wrong of them, but the colonists were outraged. In all of their rage, they referred to the King of Great Britain as a tyrant, saying that "the history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states." (Jefferson 122) Since Jefferson referred to the king as a tyrant, he lost some of his credibility. Because it was an example of faulty logic, some of the people that were "on the edge" about the revolution may be influenced to sway towards the loyalist side of the war. They might find that Jefferson is very opinionated and writes his speeches based on emotion instead of reason, which is not what the colonists were looking for. At the same time, however, Jefferson provided numerous reasons for why the colonists decided that they were going to revolt, so that would help to sway some of the colonists towards the side of revolting. "He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the permission of our legislatures." (Jefferson 123) That is a sign that England didn't really trust the colonists, so they had to keep an eye on them. I can see why that would upset the colonists, who were trying to be their own independent nation at the time.

The last paragraph of the text is basically the paragraph that sums up the entire reading. It basically states that the colonists are not happy, and even though they have tried to get the King to listen, he will not so they are forced to do something about it. That is like the bottom piece of bread that has the mustard and mayonnaise on it. It really drove the point of the Declaration home, and it was a great summary paragraph.

Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 122-124. Print.