Texting the Nation - Agencies and Actions in the Declaration of Independence

Texting the Nation analyzes rhetorical and grammatical patterns of agency in the Declaration's text and three-part logical argument, in the contexts of political and literal slavery, the deleted slavery clause, and the heavily edited conclusion, including slavery background, composition history, and later critical reputation.

List of contents

Preface
List of Acronyms
Introduction: The Declaration of Independence and Criticism
Finding "the" Declaration of Independence: Notes on the Text(s)
1. Agent(s)/Agency, Slavery and Slavery in Eighteenth-Century British North America
as Rhetoric (and Some Reality)
2. The Major Premise: Ambiguating The Human Condition, Government, and Divine Passivity
3. The Minor Premise: The Omnipotent Potentate, the Grievances, and Slavery
(and the Virginia Constitution, 1776-1903)
4. Authorizing and Accomplishing Independence: Jefferson's Double-Columned Conclusion, the Return (or Not) of God, and the Multiplying/Dividing Declaration
Conclusion: There's Something About the Declaration of Independence (But What Is It?)
Index

About the author

Michael Ditmore is Professor of English specializing in early American literature and Great Books at Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, where he has also served as Director of American Studies and Dean of the Humanities/Teacher Education Division. He has previously published on William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Hutchinson, Anne Bradstreet, Elizabeth Ashbridge, Jonathan Edwards, Crèvecoeur, and Benjamin Franklin.

Product details

• Authors: Michael Ditmore
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.11.2025
• EAN: 9781032892849
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3289284-9
• No. of pages: 222
• Series: Routledge Research in American Literature and Culture
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Politics, Political structure & processes, United States of America, USA, Literary theory, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Political structure and processes, c 1770 to c 1779