Propaganda in the Declaration of Independence

From the beginning of the formation of the United States, people have been debating and contrasting what type of government would blanket America to represent the millions of individuals seeking religious freedom and prosperity. Thomas Jefferson uses a variety of techniques to draw in the people, some of which result in faulty logic. As I first read through the document, I was faced with somewhat of a blunder because I failed to see the faulty logic, probably because my mind was completely agreeing with what Jefferson was saying. After searching deep into my brain, I was able to conjure up something that relevantly reflected name-calling, a technique that includes attaching a negative label to someone just because you do not like that (Recognizing Propoganda). When someone uses name-calling in their argument, it makes them look like complete fools in my opinion. In a way, they are sort of stereotyping that individual and perceiving them to be bad people, despite who they actually are. Jefferson consistently uses the technique of name-calling in his draft of the Declaration of Independence. "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. (122)” Jefferson presumes that the king of Great Britain is a terrible man with injury and corruptness in his history. In paragraphs to follow on page 122-124, Jefferson completely destroys the king. He states everything and anything that the king has done in the past, yet fails to back up these accusations. This is rather unfortunate actually. Here we see the basis of our government being corrupt and nasty. According to the document, all men should and are created equally. Now, if this statement, created by an American ideological, is true, why would Jefferson be bashing the king in such a way? Here we see yet another propaganda technique used. Jefferson uses the bandwagon technique to get his audience to agree with the exaggerated material he is presenting. If he says something, because of his infamous political notoriety, many people will automatically agree with what he says, despite how farfetched and degrading toward someone it may be. I think by using these faulty logic techniques, Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence is not a very forceful document of choice for someone trying to read up on the history of United States government. Unfortunately, we see Jefferson’s emotions taking over logic. He is so opinionated that he fails to recognize his irrelevant attitude toward the situation he was faced with when writing the document. In one example, Jefferson says, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out our substance, (123)”. This statement persuades people to agree with Jefferson’s opinion toward the king of Great Britain.

Overall, I found the document to be very interesting. I think it is cool that even political figures of the era formed the basis of corrupt thinking that our government uses even today. I am glad that someone sort of fixed the kinks in Jefferson’s rough draft.

Jefferson, Thomas. The Declaration of Independence. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 120-124. Print.

Dspsweb@cuesta.edu. "Recognizing Propaganda--Guide to Critical Thinking--Academic Support." Print.