LogosNot that Jefferson isn't down with some good old-fashioned emotional pathos, but for the most part the form of rhetoric he uses is logos. He presents clear reasons why the colonies are declari...

Legal DocumentThe Declaration of Independence was a legal declaration, meaning that it was signed by delegates to Congress, and once signed, was considered law. It presented a change in the legal s...

RationalWhen you read the Declaration of Independence, your first thought is probably not "Wow, what a rational piece of writing." Look closer though.Despite the dramatic subject matter, Jefferson'...

Elegant, If Sometimes WordyWriting styles in the 18th century were very different then they are today, which accounts for some of the traits of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. If you were...

The title "Declaration of Independence" is a combination of a title and a statement of fact. The actual document doesn't have a formal title, but it does mention that it's a declaration in the subh...

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the sepa...

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name,...

(5) Tree LineThe Declaration of Independence is only one parchment long, much of which is just signatures (John Hancock's alone takes up like a paragraph of space—way to be a showboat, Hancock)....

In-Text ReferencesLiterary and Philosophical ReferencesJohn Locke, Second Treatise of Government (2-5)Jefferson's ideas about the purpose and responsibility of government are drawn from Locke's phi...

A lucky intern recently found an incredibly valuable original draft of the colonists' plea to the British people in the attic storage of a historic house in New York City. Talk about earning colleg...