Great American Documents Essay

Great American Documents Essay

The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights all were important documents in United States History. Each document is different; however they each have comparable purposes and underlying themes. Each of the documents relate to each other with rhetorical devices and themes. The authors of each piece wrote similar with one another because they all wrote well and knew had to draw in the audience.
Rhetorical devices are found throughout the Declaration, Articles of Confederation, Federalist Papers, and Bill of Rights. Alliteration is a device found commonly within all the historical documents. Alliteration is used in these to draw in the audience and make the documents easier to read. Each author uses alliteration to emphasize certain words that they want to stick out to the people. The author uses harsh or calm sounding letters within their respective documents depending on the mood and what they are talking about. Alexander Hamilton uses alliteration in the words like “adversaries”, “admirers”, and “attacked” in “The Federalist Papers” because he wanted his audience to pick up on these words and think poorly of his opponents.
Another rhetorical device found within each document is repetition. The authors use repetition to emphasize important points and make them stand out to the audience. They repeat themselves to make certain that their audience will not forget what they are saying, and be sure that the people are paying attention to what is being said. Repetition is found within Alexander Hamilton’s “The Federalist Papers” where the repetition of no is used, “No partial move, no particular interest, no pride of opinion, no temporary passion or prejudice…,” is used to suck up and make himself look good to the audience. Repetition is commonly used in threes to be religious who helps to relate with his audience. Repetition is often used by authors to...