Rhetorical Analysis: The Declaration of Independence. Our Declaration of Independence was specifically written by Thomas Jefferson in response to the atrocities committed by the British Crown against the citizens of the American colonies. At the time of writing the Declaration, Jefferson was widely known to be a successful practitioner of the law as a lawyer and an eloquent writer. It is for this reason that, although Jefferson was a member of a five-man committee tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was chosen as the primary author. After enduring “a long series of abuses and usurpations,” the colonists decided to declare themselves free from British rule (paragraph 2). Jefferson writes that, given their “inalienable rights. . . Life, Freedom and the pursuit of Happiness”, “is a Right of the People. . . establish a new government”, which represents them equally, to restore order (para. 2). The Declaration of Independence does not seek to convince or even encourage action; rather, it aims to declare. There is no doubt about Jefferson's words. The colonists are tired of the mistreatment and are effectively severing all “loyalty to the British Crown and. . . political connection” (para. 23). The audience of the Declaration of Independence, the world, is specifically addressed twice. The first opening paragraph introduces the context of the Declaration. He goes on to list the king's offenses. Jefferson assures his audience that for every crime committed by the king, the colonists presented one or more solutions, only to be cast aside. Their last resort after the failure of negotiations is to declare themselves a free people. Jefferson was explicit in his Declaration of Independence, the colonists were not asking to be “totally released” from union with the British Crown, they had already decided and were on their way to building a new