"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. 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. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly..." — Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
The mode of argument used here — listing specific abuses to justify resistance — most clearly continues the rhetorical tradition of:
- Acheck_circle
The English Bill of Rights of 1689's enumeration of James II's violations
- B
The Mayflower Compact's covenantal language of self-government
- C
The Magna Carta's feudal grants to barons in 1215
- D
The Navigation Acts' commercial regulations of the 1660s
Explanation
The 1689 English Bill of Rights, after the Glorious Revolution, listed James II's constitutional violations to justify deposing him — a structure Jefferson deliberately echoed. Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact are foundational but use different rhetorical structures; the Navigation Acts are not a justificatory argument at all.