The American Declaration of Independence is arguably one of the most important historical documents of our nation, being the first written declaration that officially established the United States of America as an independent country. Although the declaration is unique to any other document of its time, it is clear that it is highly influenced and modeled after the English Declaration of Rights written in 1689. Both documents targeted similar government usurpations and absolute tyranny, were designed for the protection of the people from government excesses, and share similar structure. Despite the multitude of similarities between the two, there are also obvious differences, such as the motivations, styles, and different audiences. In any
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For instance, the English Bill of Rights was written for the ascending of King William III and Mary to the throne after the previous tyrannical ruler, King James II, known for his oppression on the people, no longer held power. This declaration intended to restore the ancient rights and liberties that were enshrined in the English common law for hundreds of years before James II. Therefore, it focuses largely on protecting the already given rights of the people. In contrast, the motivation for the Declaration of Independence was to establish a new nation completely independent from Britain. This meaning that the document’s primary focus was the foundation of the new government and the natural rights of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” rather than rights that the people had already …show more content…
The Declaration of Independence focuses solely on the people, therefore, it was written to appeal to the intended audience through use of pathos. The use of first person phrases such as “We the people” and “our legislators” create a sense of familiarity for the audience and set the tone for the declaration. Contrastingly, the English Declaration of Rights is seemingly much more impersonal, therefore the authors set a more distant tone for the document that fails to provide the same emotional connection between audience and author that the Declaration of Independence obtains. However, this distant tone is more appropriate for the English Declaration of Rights as the intended audience is much broader and the declaration has a different motivation than the Declaration of
For instance, the English Bill of Rights was written for the ascending of King William III and Mary to the throne after the previous tyrannical ruler, King James II, known for his oppression on the people, no longer held power. This declaration intended to restore the ancient rights and liberties that were enshrined in the English common law for hundreds of years before James II. Therefore, it focuses largely on protecting the already given rights of the people. In contrast, the motivation for the Declaration of Independence was to establish a new nation completely independent from Britain. This meaning that the document’s primary focus was the foundation of the new government and the natural rights of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” rather than rights that the people had already …show more content…
The Declaration of Independence focuses solely on the people, therefore, it was written to appeal to the intended audience through use of pathos. The use of first person phrases such as “We the people” and “our legislators” create a sense of familiarity for the audience and set the tone for the declaration. Contrastingly, the English Declaration of Rights is seemingly much more impersonal, therefore the authors set a more distant tone for the document that fails to provide the same emotional connection between audience and author that the Declaration of Independence obtains. However, this distant tone is more appropriate for the English Declaration of Rights as the intended audience is much broader and the declaration has a different motivation than the Declaration of