Analysis of the Declaration of Independence
In his essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell sets out specific and general standards for written English. These include avoiding idioms, metaphors, similes, long words, and foreign words (Orwell). However, there are even more rigid standards for political writing. According to Orwell, the vagueness and incompetence he illustrates with five different passages are especially prevalent in political writing. Unfortunately, they appear in the Declaration of Independence as well. As a result, the Declaration of Independence is a poor specimen according to Orwell's standards.
The vagueness is easy to spot from the beginning of the Declaration: "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation" (Declaration of Independence). As Orwell states regarding other political writing, there is a great lack of precision in this passage (Orwell).
The phrases "in the course of human events" and "among the powers of the earth" are long and unnecessary. They do not add to the meaning of the passage, and they make it difficult to read and follow. In addition, the phrase "and of broken family introduction" seems redundant, since the prior phrase is "the laws of Nature. " Instead, the passage should read: "When it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
“Analysis of the Declaration of Independence” they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. " Another imprecise passage is this one: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed" (Declaration of Independence). This passage is not vague.
Rather, it simply contains comma-separated phrases that could be written in a better way, as in: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. And accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. " In his essay Orwell warns against using phrases made up of nouns, verbs, and adjectives where a simple action verb will do (Orwell). The following example illustrates this concept:
The vagueness is easy to spot from the beginning of the Declaration: "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation" (Declaration of Independence). As Orwell states regarding other political writing, there is a great lack of precision in this passage (Orwell).
The phrases "in the course of human events" and "among the powers of the earth" are long and unnecessary. They do not add to the meaning of the passage, and they make it difficult to read and follow. In addition, the phrase "and of broken family introduction" seems redundant, since the prior phrase is "the laws of Nature. " Instead, the passage should read: "When it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
“Analysis of the Declaration of Independence” they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. " Another imprecise passage is this one: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed" (Declaration of Independence). This passage is not vague.
Rather, it simply contains comma-separated phrases that could be written in a better way, as in: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. And accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. " In his essay Orwell warns against using phrases made up of nouns, verbs, and adjectives where a simple action verb will do (Orwell). The following example illustrates this concept:
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