Propaganda in the Declaration of Independence

While the Enlightenment influenced many people during the eighteenth century to use logic and rational thinking, there is use of propaganda in documents like the Declaration of Independence that suggest writers of the time did not only rely on strong reason, but had weak arguments as well. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson uses propaganda like name calling and an appeal to the people to persuade the public.

One of the weak propaganda techniques that is used in the Declaration of Independence is the use of name calling. The reader can see name calling in the Declaration of Independence when Jefferson lists all of the reasons that America is deciding to sever ties with England and declare independence (Jefferson 124). An example of this is the part of the document that states, "He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidey scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous age, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation." (Jefferson 124).  In the passage the author is tearing apart the British and criticizing them for be barbarous and cruel. In this passage the reader sees how Jefferson only mentions the bad things that England did to America. He chooses not to include the things that the British did do for the colonists like defending them from threats. This name calling and tear down of the British is a way for the author to effectively get his point across, but he is not presenting all of the facts to the readers("Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic."). This is what makes this part of the Declaration of Independence propaganda. The author is using emotional appeals and keeping information from the reader instead of using a rational approach that includes pure reason and logic. 

Not only does Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, use propaganda in the form of name calling, but he also uses the weak argument of appealing of the people. It seems like that in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson is trying to persuade the general public with emotion instead of reason to cut off ties with Great Britain (Jefferson 122). It seems that he thinks that he knows best and a portion of the document states," Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government." (Jefferson 122). In this passage Jefferson is trying to justify the break with England by including all of the people of the colonies having the right to break away from unjust forms of government (Jefferson 122). It is clear that he involves everyone to make them sure that they all have a right to break away from England, and will be an asset in declaring independence.

In conclusion, The Declaration of Independence is not based solely on logic, but also propaganda that appeal to emotion, which is a weak argument. In the Declaration of Independence, the author uses propaganda like name calling and an appeal to the people.



Bibliography:

Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." Glencoe American Literature. N.p.: McGraw Hill, 2009. 122-24. Print.

"Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic." Recognizing Propaganda--Guide to Critical Thinking--Academic Support. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/404.htm>.

Journal 10

It is my belief that our English class should be provided mints. This is my belief because this will add an incentive to the class that will motivate my classmates and I. When provided mints we will feel as if we have earned something special and continue to strive for many more rewards in the future. A possible result in bringing in mints to the classroom would be a renewal of enthusiasm for coming to class. Rewards will award the students and may make us more willing to be engrossed in the subject matter at hand. Another possible reason that bringing mints into the class would be beneficial is that studies done by scientists suggest that eating mints stimulates the brain. While we were taking standardized tests in middle school, the teachers would provide us mints for the reason of stimulating our brains so we could end up doing well on them. I feel that our English class would be much more productive and engaged with out brains stimulated by mints. This could lead to our class staying on task well and being able to learn and absorb new information about what we are discussing in class. Having our brains stimulated would be essential to learning because we have class the last period of the day. I ,personally, am starting to feel mentally strained at this time of the day and I just want to go home. Eating mints will rejuvenate the whole class for our last hour class, so we will be able to do more and will be much more willing to take in new information. The mental weariness that the whole class could be experiencing after a long day may even vanish because we would have something special that will ignite a sense of goodwill feeling throughout the whole entire class. Overall, I think that mints should be brought into class to encourage students with rewards and stimulate our mentally strained minds.

Journal 9

I love autumn with all of my heart. Honestly, I could gush about the wonders of autumn all day long. First of all I love the violently vivid colors of the Fall. I cannot but help to love how beautiful the earth looks as it changes into various colors of orange and red. These colors brighten the whole world and are very appealing to me. Another thing I love about the autumn is the weather. I cannot stand the summertime because it is way too hot for me and I love being cold. Autumn is my saving grace from the oppressive summer heat and I am eternally grateful for this. The weather becomes perfect for me. I love to emerge outside and feel the cool pristine air of the Earth in my lungs. This is a time where I feel perfectly content. The weather is especially nice in October and I cannot be outside enough. In the autumn the stars at night are also a lot more bright. Even though I know little about the names of the constellations, I love to look at them because they are so bright. The stars always make me realize how big the universe is that I get to play a part in. The stars are to me as gorgeous as the turning of the leaves, and seeing the stars always has a way of comforting me. I am also a huge fan of all of the holidays that occur in Fall. Halloween always excites me even though I no longer dress up and go trick or treating. I still use Halloween though to stuff myself with an inappropriate amount of candy and other goodies. I also enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up in their funny costumes and how they how much joy they experience  in the special days in life like Halloween. I also love Thanksgiving because who doesn't love all of that delicious home cooked food and time with family?

Journal 8

Sometimes having a rational response to someone who is emotional can be very helpful to the conflict that is upsetting the other person so much. For example one time a friend of mine came up to me and was very upset because her hamster had passed away the day before. She had loved her hamster more than almost anything in the whole world. At first I had no idea how to console my friend about the loss of her beloved pet and was unsure of what to say to make her feel better. After considering the situation and evaluating the ways that I could react, I decided to take a rational approach with my friend. I knew that anything I would say in her time of emotion would not necessarily fix her broken heart, but when she considered it later that she could begin to heal. So, while my friend was looking to me for comfort about her hamster, I reminded her of the sickness that the hamster had been dealing with a long time. I gently told her that her hamster had lived longer than was expected and she should be happy for that. I also told her that the hamster was always in pain, and that now he would be free of his burden. I think that this gentle and rational response was able to help my friend heal a lot. I think that if my response had been emotional like many of the other people she talked to had been, I would not have been able to help her feel better. She realized that she had let her own feelings get in the way when think of her hamsters death, and she realized that her hamster would no longer feel the pain he had during life. I think this made my friend be able to accept the death of her beloved pet much more easily. In the end I think my rational response was very helpful.

The Crucible Act Four

While reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller, I noticed many similarities between this piece of literature and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards. Most of these ideas seem to come from the shared beliefs in the wrath of God that the Puritans in The Crucible and Jonathan Edwards has in his sermon, and that the final judgement lies with God.

I noticed while reading The Crucible and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God a similarity in how the Puritans perceive God as full of wrath and very vengeful. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God the speaker Edwards says, "God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to the those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell..." (Edwards 97). Edwards is pretty much saying that everything you do wrong is making God angry, and every new sin adds to this fury. It also means that if you are sinning, in God's eyes you are not any better than the people already in hell. In The Crucible it is clear that many of the characters believe this like Reverend Hale. At the end of the story he realizes his mistake in supporting the witch hysteria in Salem and knows that many of the condemned are innocent (Miller 132). The reverend can be seen blaming himself for the death of many of the "witches" while he pleads to Danforth to postpone the hangings. He says to Danforth, "There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!" (Miller 131). Hale may believe that God may punish him for his help in the murder of innocent people and that his involvement is making God angry.

Besides the vision of an angry God, both The Crucible and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God also share the same idea of the final judgement in life to rest with God. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God this idea is represented when Edwards says, "And they have nothing in the least, to appease or abate this anger, neither is God in the least bound to by any promise to hold them up one moment." (Edwards 97). This means that God does not care for you, but will only give punishment to you that he finds suit you after being judged. It also means that God has no obligation to keep you from Hell if he thinks it is right. The idea of God's judgement can also be seen in The Crucible when John is asking Elizabeth whether she thinks that he should confess and save himself (Miller 135). Every time he asks Elizabeth responds, "I am not your judge, I cannot be." (Miller 138). Elizabeth means that John has to make his choice by himself because at the end of the day it is not she who will judge him, but God.

In conclusion, there are similarities between the ideas of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and The Crucible. Both of these pieces of literature contain ideas on the wrath of God and the judgement of God. Between the similarities of these two pieces the reader is able to perceive important religious ideas of the Puritans.

Bibliography: Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Glencoe American Literature. N.p.: McGraw Hill, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Journal 7

When many people think of bullying and harassment they usually only think of the effects on the victim of the bully. While many detrimental effects are put on to the victim, I think bullying tends to affect both the victim and the bully. For example, if a kid gets beat up, they will obviously have bad feelings towards the event and the person that abused them. Being beat up could make them feel very weak and start a plethora of self esteem problems in the victim. They also may start to harbor resentment for not only the other child that hurt them, but also the system that allowed such a thing to happen to them. This resentment could spread till the victim feels all out hate and this is when they themselves can get violent or cruel. They may figure it is better to be the bully than the victim. The victim could also decide that the pain from the mental and physical pain is just too much and tragically give up on life. The bully too can feel negative effects from bullying someone. After bullying someone the bully may one day feel remorse for all they have done to a specific person. The bully will not a get the chance to atone for what they did and this is something that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. This remorse could even be multiplied if they drove their victims to extremes like giving up on life. Overall, I think that certain measures should be taken in the future to prevent bullying. I think that if we were to cut down on the bullying in the world then both parties could be saved from the pain that bullying creates. The bully could be saved from later remorse and the victim could be saved from social and emotional stress. In the end the world may be a better place where everyone can feel safe and comfortable because they are not bullied.

Act Three of The Crucible

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller many of the characters are given some of the worst traits that humans can have. In The Crucible, human nature like the envy of Abigail, the greed of Putnam, and selfishness of the girls are displayed by the actions of the characters and the events of the story.

One of the bad aspects of human nature that can be found in the personalities of the characters in The Crucible is envy. Envy is displayed mostly in the story by Abigail Williams. Abigail is a teenage girl that had an affair with a married farmer named John Proctor (Miller 110). Eventually John's wife, Elizabeth, found out about their relationship and fired Abigail from her job as a servant in the Proctor household (Miller 110). Abigail resents Elizabeth because she was fired (Miller 23). Abigail also believes that John is in love with her (Miller 24). This causes Abigail to begin to envy Elizabeth because she is John Proctor's wife and Abigail is not. This envy that Abigail feels begins to grow and gets out of control. Abigail begins to believe that if she gets rid of Elizabeth, that she and John can finally be together (Miller 110). It is due to envy that Abigail claims that Elizabeth is a witch that has been practicing dark magic (Miller 73). Abigail acting on her envy results in the wrong attempted persecution of Elizabeth.

Not only is envy one of the aspects of human nature shown in The Crucible, but also greed. Greed is shown by the townspeople that try to take advantage of the chaos of the Salem witch trials. One case of this is the Putnam family. They endorse the witch trials because they can declare the people who have land that they want witches (Miller 96). In the time period, when someone is hanged for witchcraft, they forfeit all of their land (Miller 96). This means that the land of the accused will go back on the market and can be purchased (Miller 96). Putnam declared his neighbor a witch in hopes that he would hang, and Putnam would be able to acquire his land (Miller 96). Putnam is driven by the greed for more farmable land, and this drive causes the suspicion of an innocent person.

Selfishness, in addition to envy and greed, is another part of human nature that is portrayed by the events in The Crucible. Many characters in the book are selfish, and can be seen lying to save themselves and persecuting others. An example of this in the story is when the group of girls claim that they were dancing in the woods naked was because they had been bewitched, when in reality they had been doing it for sport and rebellion (Miller 42). To avoid being punished for dancing, they blame their servant at first, but eventually they get caught up in the chaos and begin to declare people witches for sport or revenge (Miller 44-48). This plunges the whole town of Salem into witch hunt that imprisons many and even results in hangings (Miller 48). I think that this is the epitome of selfishness. To escape punishment they put the blame on others, and this leads to persecution and tarnished reputations for the people they declared witches.

In conclusion, The Crucible by Arthur Miller depicts many of the bad sides of human nature. Among these traits are envy, greed, and selfishness, which are represented by the different characters and events within the story.

Bibliography: Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.