Power And The Declaration Of Independence

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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 the ...

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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 the tone of the
document. The colonist's definition ...

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