Abstractions in Power-Writing
Abstractions in Power-WritingThere are many abstractions in the Declaration of Independence. These abstractions such as: rights, freedom, liberty and
happiness have become the foundations of American society and have
helped to shape the "American Identity." Power, another abstraction
that reoccurs in all the major parts of the Declaration of
Independence plays an equally important role in shaping "America
identity." One forgets the abstraction of power, because it appears in
relation to other institutions: the legislature, the King, the earth,
and the military. The abstraction of power sets the tone of the
Declaration, and shapes the colonists conception of government and
society. Power in the Declaration of Independence flows from distinct
bodies within society such as the King, the legislature, the military,
and the colonists.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines power as, "the ability
to do or effect something or anything, or to act upon a person or
thing" (OED 2536). Throughout the ages according to the dictionary the
word power has connoted similar meanings. In 1470 the word power meant
to have strength and the ability to do something, "With all thair
strang *poweir" (OED 2536) Nearly three hundred years 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 Declaration colonists
condemn the King's violation of powers given by god to all men.
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
natures God Entitle them (Wills 375).
In this passage the writers of the Declaration of Independence
are explaining their moral claim to...
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