Read the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence:
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
Invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce [a
people] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their
duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new
Guards for their future security. Such has been the
patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the
necessity which constrains them to alter their former
Systems of Government. The history of the present King of
Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and
usurpations....
How do the authors of the Declaration best use deductive reasoning based
on the idea that
the colonists have a right to form a new government?
OA. They first establish the idea that oppressed people have a right
and duty to replace
their government with a better one, and then
argue that
British rule of the colonies is one such example.
OB. They provide universally accepted examples of what kinds of acts
qualify as acts of
tyranny, and then show that the current king of
Great Britain has indeed
committed these acts.
C. They state that the current British king has caused great harm to
the American
colonies, and then show how the king's actions
reflect the actions
of many tyrants throughout history.
D. They first establish the idea that declaring one's intentions is a
decent and expected
measure, and then proceed to declare the
intentions of the colonies
to establish a new government.
PREVIOUS