"The Declaration of Independence"

As we read "The Declaration of Independence" in class, we discussed the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone, as we have done for all essays thus far. For this, the three factors that I would like to explain are the speaker, audience, and purpose. While discussing this essay, we learned that the speaker is not necessarily always the author. Even though the author was Thomas Jefferson, he was speaking on the colonists behalf, making the colonists the speakers. This showed that they all agreed with one another, and all thought the most important object, even though it may be abstract, was independence. The audience of this essay is King George III, but that is only for the beginning, when Thomas Jefferson states all of his flaws. The ending is when he began to speak to the American colonists, bringing in the purpose to try inspiring and persuading them to fight for what they believe in. "...we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor" (Thomas Jefferson, 195). Jefferson states that those three were important to them, and they were all taken away due to King George III's corrupt ways of ruling. However, they could not allow King George III rule as if it was okay, and hope for the best. They could only fight for what they hoped to reacquire.