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

Texting the Nation closely parses the Declaration of Independence’s text and logical argument in grammatical and rhetorical terms to highlight patterns of agency, from the passive voice construction and rearranged parallel arrangement of political principles to the composition history and meaning of the deleted slavery paragraph from the grievances, and then to the heavy Congressional editing of the conclusion, to both add God-language and restore the Lee Resolution for Independence. The book highlights the Virginia background of the Declaration (the Virginia Declaration of Rights, Jefferson’s draft for the Virginia Constitution, and the Lee Resolution), including the Virginia antislavery myth and non-importation movement. Additionally, Texting the Nation includes Declaration criticism, including Timothy Pickering and Jacques Derrida.