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Declaration Of Independence: Abstractions In Power - College Paper

Declaration Of Independence: Abstractions In Power

There are many abstractions in the Declaration of Independence. These abstractions such as: rights, freedom, liberty and happiness have become the foundations of American society and have helped to shape the "American Identity." Power, another abstraction that reoccurs in all the major parts of the Declaration of Independence plays an equally important role in shaping "America identity." One forgets the abstraction of power, because it appears in relation to other institutions: the legislature, the King, the earth, and the military. The abstraction of power sets the tone of the Declaration, and shapes the colonists conception of government and society. Power in the Declaration of ...

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hundred years later in 1785 the word power carried the same meaning of control, strength, and force, "power to produce an effect, supposes power not to produce it; otherwise it is not power but necessity" (OED 2536). This definition explains how the power government or social institutions rests in their ability to command people, rocks, colonies to do something they otherwise would not do. To make the people pay taxes. To make the rocks form into a fence. To make the colonists honor the King. The colonialists adopt this interpretation of power. They see power as a cruel force that has wedded them to a King who has "a history of repeated injuries and usurptions." The framers of the Declaration of Independence also believe powers given by God to the people must not be usurped. The conflict between these spheres of power the colonists believe, justifies their rebellion.
The uses of the word power set the tone of the Declaration of Independence. In the first sentence of ...

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These two different uses of the word power transform the meaning and tone of the Declaration of Independence. The meaning changes from just a Declaration of independence from Britain because of various violations of tax laws, military expenditures, and colonists' rights; to a fundamental disagreement about power. Whether the King or civil authorities have a right to power. The colonists believe in the decentralization of power. The British support a centralized monarchy. The colonists believe power should flow up from the people to the rulers. The British believe power should flow down from the King to the subjects.
The two different uses of the world power also change ...

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Declaration Of Independence: Abstractions In Power. (2005, March 14). Retrieved January 22, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Declaration-Of-Independence-Abstractions-In-Power/23706

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 3/14/2005 02:47:54 PM
Category: American History
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1259
Pages: 5

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