Reponse To Persuasive Writing- Declaration Of Independence

Essay, Research Paper

Response to Persuasive Writing:Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is considered one of the world s greatest persuasive documents ever written. Adopted on July 4, 1776 by the Second Continental Congress in America, the Declaration listed the tyrannical acts committed by King George III of England and proclaimed the natural rights of mankind and the sovereignty of the American states. The immediate origins of the American Revolution were in British-American disputes over taxation. After the Seven Years War with France, Britain was left with double its national debt and in severe need of money to repay loans and to defend its territories. Britain attempted to rebuild its finances by issuing the Stamp Act, which levied taxes on selected items; such as commercial and legal documents, diplomas, pamphlets, newspapers, almanacs, dice, and playing cards; and monopolizing the tea trade between China and America. These brought about severe protests and riots, however, which Britain punished by imposing the Coercive Acts, closing the Boston port and stopping local elections and meetings. After negotiations between the First Continental Congress and the British Parliament proved unsuccessful, the American Revolution began. During the war, many were inspired by the works of philosophers such as John Locke and the baron de Montesquieu. Locke believed the function of a government was to protect the natural rights of life, liberty, and property of the people, and if it fails to do so, it becomes a tyranny, which grants the citizens the right to rebel. Montesquieu argued that despotism and tyranny could be avoided if political power was divided and shared by a variety of classes and groups holding unequal rights and privileges. His ideas were influential in creating a democratic government, one that power is divided and with system of checks and balances, rather than Locke whose ideas were influential to rebellion. The Declaration of Independence was no doubt a very persuasive document. However, what made it so successful was its address of the issues of the people at the time it was written. By identifying King George III s tyrannical government, a government s rights and responsibilities, and the natural rights of the people and their responsibilities, the Declaration of Independence was a great persuasive document. The tyrannical acts committed by King George III was a major issue recognized in the Declaration of Independence. Listed in the Declaration are the colonists grievances because of the king s despotic government. The grievances exhibit what the king has done that has transgressed the natural rights of people. The king s tyranny is considered a social issue because it affected the people and their rights. The majority of these grievances deals with representation, a right extremely important to the colonists, considering it was what they did not have during the debate over taxation, the cause of the war. Had the colonists been represented fairly in Parliament, the war would not have occurred. Representation was important to the colonists because of their distance from England. They needed proper representation in Parliament to express their viewpoints on subjects such as taxation. Furthermore, representation is a key element in a democracy, the goal of the colonies; and in England, where a parliamentary system ruled with considerable liberty and franchise for the people. The colonists were angered in the fact that although they were essentially English, they did not receive English rights. The tyranny of the king in representation is written, He [King George] has refused to pass other Laws unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation and He has dissolved Representative Houses . Not only was representation an issue in taxation, it too was neglected in the maintenance of a standing army in the colonies, that He has kept Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. Many of the acts written about in the Declaration involve the king acting on his own without receiving an assent from the people. He made his own laws, refused others, held meetings at uncomfortable places, restricted certain immigrants to the colonies, controlled the justice and military, suspended legislatures, destroyed the colonies, held impressment, and ignited violence in the colonies. These actions violated one s life, by encouraging violence; liberty, by refusing the colonists the ability to make their own laws; and property, by destroying property. Thus the king greatly angered the people. The issue of the king s tyranny is important because he made the people suffer during his rule and actions previously mentioned. The grievances declare how the colonists suffered and what they felt. The British viewpoint is contrary to that of the colonists. On taxation, the British believed it was reasonable because the colonists were among the least-taxed people in the world, and had the French won the Seven Years War, America would be under French rule and lose its present freedom to absolutism. They argued the Americans were represented in Parliament, although indirectly, and its absolute supremacy could not be questioned because Parliament was supported by the British people. King George believed his actions too were rational because they maintained his sovereign rule over the colonies. He believed he had the right to sovereign rule on the colonies becaus