FREE ESSAY ON ABSTRACTIONS IN POWER-WRITING

ABSTRACTIONS IN POWER-WRITING

Abstractions in Power-Writing
There 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. 
power has serious 
repercussions on the subsequent formulation of the US government.
Because the colonists philosophical break with England was over the 
power of the King the framers of the Declaration of Independence 
sought to prevent a monarchy from arising in the United States. They 
sought to disperse power among the states and set up a system of 
counterbalancing branches of government that would prevent any single 
branch from having too much power. The ideas of federalism and 
decentralization were a direct outgrowth of the colonists 
interpretation of power. Power, in the Declaration of Independence 
carries more than just grammatical significance to the document. It 
shapes the document's meaning making it philosophically harsh toward 
the institution of the King and tempered toward English society.