Declaration of Independence Reflection

It was easy to see propaganda techniques in "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson.  One that stuck out to me was a form of name calling.  The name calling was not negative of mean, but they called the King of England, he.  While this is not bad, it showed that he was the one to blame.  Him and only him was the reason that the colonies wanted to leave England.  The general term showed that they did not care for him, but they still were against them. 

Another propaganda method I saw would be the "Either" method.  The two generalizations made about England and the Colonists showed this method.  England and the King was referred to as "he". The colonists referred to themselves as "we".  These two terms divided the sides on the revolution.  Either you were part of the "we" or "he".  There was no in between to this opinion.  

Another propaganda method would be "The Bandwagon" method.  The way Jefferson presented the "we" portion of the document.  The generalization of "we" made people think that everyone felt this way against England.  The way this was delivered made everyone think that if they did not feel this way they were not a part of America.  This was a very good method to be used because it almost scared people into sharing the "we" opinion.  

A faulty logic example I saw in "The Declaration of Independence" would be Arguing from Ignorance.  While Jefferson was not ignorant, there was nobody to represent the side the English took in this document.  There was not a defense for England so it was easy for Jefferson to call out everything that England did wrong when there was nobody to explain reasoning behind those happenings.  It was so easy to attack someone who was not there.  That is why this document is a slight example of Arguing from ignorance.


"Recognizing Propaganda Techniquesand Errors of Faulty Logic." Recognizing Propaganda--Guide to Critical Thinking--Academic Support. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/404.htm.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Douglas Fisher, Kathleen A. Hinchman, David G. O'Brien, Taffy Raphael, and Cynthia Hynd. Shanahan. Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.