Great_American_Documents_Essay

Great American Documents Essay The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights all were important documents in United States History. Each document is different; however they each have comparable purposes and underlying themes. Each of the documents relate to each other with rhetorical devices and themes. The authors of each piece wrote similar with one another because they all wrote well and knew had to draw in the audience. Rhetorical devices are found throughout the Declaration, Articles of Confederation, Federalist Papers, and Bill of Rights. Alliteration is a device found commonly within all the historical documents. Alliteration is used in these to draw in the audience and make the documents easier to read. Each author uses alliteration to emphasize certain words that they want to stick out to the people. The author uses harsh or calm sounding letters within their respective documents depending on the mood and what they are talking about. Alexander Hamilton uses alliteration in the words like “adversaries”, “admirers”, and “attacked” in “The Federalist Papers” because he wanted his audience to pick up on these words and think poorly of his opponents. Another rhetorical device found within each document is repetition. The authors use repetition to emphasize important points and make them stand out to the audience. They repeat themselves to make certain that their audience will not forget what they are saying, and be sure that the people are paying attention to what is being said. Repetition is found within Alexander Hamilton’s “The Federalist Papers” where the repetition of no is used, “No partial move, no particular interest, no pride of opinion, no temporary passion or prejudice…,” is used to suck up and make himself look good to the audience. Repetition is commonly used in threes to be religious who helps to relate with his audience. Repetition is often used by authors to make they seem superior to the audience, and it makes the author seem like a leader of the people. Other than rhetorical devices the authors of all the documents use an underlining theme throughout each piece. The main purpose of the most important historical documents is to explain or show equal rights and freedom. Most documents will not completely say that there is always an underlying theme that will connect them all. Since most of these articles have the same objective it can be fairly obvious what the theme for each will be. Each of the five important documents has a theme of equal right for the common man but in the Bill of Rights the document was created just for the purpose of giving more rights to the citizens. Also in the Declaration of Independence, one important goal of the draft was to make sure “all men were created equal”. With everyone equal this also means freedom from unwanted powerful political figure which with the drafting of the constitution changed all that by giving an average citizen the right to vote for the government they want in charge. The Articles of Confederation had many problems; however it did give each state the freedom to govern their own citizens how they please. It has been shown through underlining themes in each document that they are closing connected. The historical documents helped to establish the early government of the United States. There were many rhetorical devices and underlying themes throughout all five documents that helped create a common connection through each. Freedom and equal rights were used widely throughout all documents by the authors to impact their audience. Many rhetorical devices were used including repetition and alliteration to get the people to focus on their man points. In conclusion there is no doubt that each document had their own specific purpose for being written, but all were connected in some way. Work Cited Hamilton, Alexander. "The Federalist Paper." Print. Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declation of Independence." Print.