Greater Things > Parallels > Chiasms from Other Sources > Declaration of Independence Chiasm |
Declaration of Independence Chiasm
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A-1 . WHEN in the
Course of human Events,
A-2 . it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which
have connected them with another,
. . B(1) and to assume among the Powers of the
Earth,
. . B(2) the separate and equal Station
. . B(3) to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them,
. . . . C(1) a decent Respect to the Opinions of
Mankind requires that they should declare
. . . . C(2) the causes which impel them
. . . . C(3) to the Separation.
. . . . . . D-1 . WE hold these Truths to be
self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness--
. . . . . . D-2 . That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among
Men,
. . . . . . D-3 . deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,
. . . . . . . . E-1 . that whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these Ends,
. . . . . . . . E-2 . it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, lying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its
Powers in such Form,
. . . . . . . . E-3 . as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and
Happiness.
. . . . . . . . . . F-1 . Prudence, indeed, will dictate
. . . . . . . . . . F-2 . that Governments long established
. . . . . . . . . . F-3 . should not be changed for light and transient Causes;
. . . . . . . . . . . . G-1 . and accordingly all
Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are
sufferable,
. . . . . . . . . . . . G-2 . than to right themselves by abolishing the Formes to
which they are accustomed.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . H-1 . But when a long
Train
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . H-2 . of Abuses and Usurpations,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(1) . pursuing
invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(2) . it is their Right, it is their Duty
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(3) . to throw off such Government, and to provide new
Guards for their future Security.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(1) . Such has been the patient Sufferance of these
Colonies;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(2) . and such is now the Necessity which constrains them
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(3) . to alter their former Systems of Government.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J-1 . The History of
the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and
Usurpations,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J-2 . all having in direct Object the Establishment of
an absolute Tyranny over these States.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K-1 . To prove
this, let Facts be submitted
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K-2 . to a candid World.
List of Grievances
. L-1 . HE has refused his Assent to Laws,
. L-2 . the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
. . . M . HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
. . . . . N . HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records,
. . . . . . . O . for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
. . . . . . . . . P-1 . HE has dissolved
Representative Houses repeatedly,
. . . . . . . . . P-2 . for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of
the People.
. . . . . . . . . . . Q . HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasions from without, and Convulsions within.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . R . HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T . HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V . He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Y . HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Z . HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Z' . and unacknowledged by our Laws;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Y'. giving his Assent to their Acts of Pretended Legislation:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X' . FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W' . FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V' . FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U' . FOR imposing Taxes on us without our consent:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T' . FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S' . FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offenses:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . R' . FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
. . . . . . . . . . . Q' . FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
. . . . . . . . . P-1' . FOR suspending our own
Legislatures,
. . . . . . . . . P-2' . and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate
for us in all cases whatsoever.
. . . . . . . O' . HE has abdicated Government here,
. . . . . N' . by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
. . . M' . HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People. He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
. L-1' . HE has constrained our fellow Citizens
taken Captive on the high Seas
. L-2' . to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends
and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
. L-1' . HE has excited
. L-2' . domestic Insurrections amongst us,
. L-1' . and has endeavoured
. L-2' . to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose
known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and
Conditions.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K-1' IN every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K-2' in the most humble Terms:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J-1' . Our repeated
Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J-2' . A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by
every act which may define a Tyrant,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(2)' is unfit
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(3)' to be the Ruler of a free People.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I(1)' NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . H-1' We have warned them
from Time to Time
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . H-2' of Attempts by their Legislature to extend and
unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us.
. . . . . . . . . . . . G-1' We have reminded them of
the Circumstances
. . . . . . . . . . . . G-2' of our Emigration and Settlement here.
. . . . . . . . . . F-1' . We have appealed to their native
Justice and Magnanimity,
. . . . . . . . . . F-2' . and we have conjured them by the ties of our common Kindred
. . . . . . . . . . F-3' . to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt
our Connections and Correspondence.
. . . . . . . . E-1' . They too have been deaf
. . . . . . . . E-2' . to the Voice of Justice
. . . . . . . . E-3' . and of Consanguinity.
. . . . . . D-1' We must, therefore, acquiesce in the
Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of
Mankind,
. . . . . . D-2' Enemies in War,
. . . . . . D-3' in Peace, Friends.
. . . . C(2)' WE, therefore, the Representatives of
the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme
Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions,
. . . . C(1)' do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these
Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare,
. . . . C(3)' That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE
AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the
British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of
Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved;
. . B(2)' and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT
SATES,
. . B(1)' they have full Power
. . B(3)' to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do
all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do.
A-1' And for the support of this Declaration, with a
firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence,
A-2' we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred
Honor.
Commentary
The focal point statement so central in 1776 is once again applicable,
"HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws."
That point was the crux then and it is the crux yet again today, as there are those in this nation and other nations who are seeking to subvert the soverignty of the United States and bring us under the New World Order global dictatorship.
by Sterling D. Allan; Saint George, Utah;
June 13,1992See also:
Observations Regarding the Chiastic Symmetry:
 | Elements A through K and K' through A (going into and coming out of the list of grievances) apparently have at least two components each. They are laid out in the following pattern: first is one doublet parallel (A-1,2), then come two groupings of three (B(1-3) and C(1-3)), next come three triplet parallels (D-1,2,3; E-1,2,3; F-1,2,3), then come two doublet parallels (G-1,2; H-1,2), followed by one doubled grouping (I(1-3); I(1-3)), concluding with two doublet parallels (J-1,2; K-1,2). Put simply, this pattern is as follows: |
1,
2,3,2,1,2.Observations Pertaining to the List of Grievances:Following this pattern, the next set could either be 1 or 3. Accordingly, L is arranged as one doublet and L' is arranged as three.
| In the first half of the list of grievances (in the ascending leg of chiasm up to the focal point) each sentence begins with the statement, "HE has." Then from that point (in the descending leg of the chiasm from the focal point) the sentences begin with the statement, "FOR." This continues until P-2', after which, the sentences once again begin with "HE has." This transition is signaled by element P' having two components (P-1 and P-2) while the ones preceding it from Y' to Q' have only one component. |
