Propaganda in the Declaration of Independence

On July 4, 1776, the Philadelphia Congress approved a document that would drastically change the course of history. The Declaration of Independence was used to rally the colonists and to convince foreign countries to assist the United States of America in their battle for freedom. The wording and style of the Declaration of Independence made it a masterpiece of propaganda. The Declaration of Independence was, in many parts, ambiguous. Ambiguity can make it more difficult to refute …

…trying to establish a tyranny over the colonies. It used emotions to propagate sympathy for the colonies and to unite Americans. It could not have been written any better as a piece of propaganda. _____________________ 1. Thomas A. Bailey and David M. Kennedy, The American Pageant, (Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1994), p. 122. 2. Stephen E. Lucas, The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence, (National Archives and Records Administration Online Exhibit Hall: www.nara.gov, c 1989), p. 9.