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The Declaration Of Independence And The Constitution

Decent Essays

Christy Cline History Professor Felix When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, they wrote them with the future in mind. In the newspaper and TV headlines today, many of the topics in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are even more relevant and hotly debated today than back then. But they each have a different purpose and handle many topics differently. This essay will compare the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in three areas: style, structure, and tone, the topic of religion and government, and the issue of African slavery. Concerning style, structure, and tone, the DOI and Constitution differ greatly. In the D.O.I., the author seems to write more freely and use words like “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and “all men are created equal”. In the Constitution, the word choice is more strict and careful and the word “liberty” does not appear anywhere except in the Preamble. This is because the D.O.I. is not a legal document and people cannot use it in a court or a legal situation to protect their rights. The word choice is more like an inspirational speech or propaganda to cause the colonists to become angry at King George III and support the cause to separate from England. In the first section, the author creates powerful visual imagery like “dissolve the political bands”. The author also establishes himself as a trustworthy source by using logical reasoning in the section before

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