Primary sources in Cotten Seiler's Republic of Driver?
1. Jefferson's Autobiography offers us two versions of the Declaration of Independence--the draft that Jefferson presented to the Continental Congress, and the final version that was published and sent to King George III. We have, therefore, a wonderful opportunity to see a founding document undergo substantial revision and to speculate on the political and moral motives and rhetorical tastes which caused these changes to be made. In the draft, look at the long deleted paragraph beginning "He has waged cruel war against human nature itself" and at the deleted excerpt toward the end of the document, beginning "At this very time too, they are permitting their chief magistrate . . ." Why exclude these passages? Who is the implicit audience? Are there differences between the rhetoric of these deleted passages and the general tone and style of the final document? Do you see any relationship between the values implicit in these revisions and the values that a modern writer might have in mind as he or she revises prose?
2. In Thomas Paine's The Crisis, both England and the colonists call upon God to help them in their fight. What argument(s) does Paine use to suggest that God is really on the colonists' side?
Thoreau begins with a quote from Thomas Jefferson-"That government is best which governs least." In what other ways is Thoreau's thinking similar to the thinking of those who signed the Declaration of Independence? Can you see any ways in which his thinking differs from theirs?