Topic > Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence And...

The King is once again described as a horrible leader because "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our cities, and destroyed the lives of our people" (805). “Looted our coast” means stealing goods from a place or person that gives an image of the King stealing the inalienable rights of the American people. It also creates the image of the King taking the right of people to immigrate to America because he created more laws and regulations. The word "ravaged" connotes the king being cruel and unjust, creating a visual image of the king as some kind of attacking animal. “Devastated our coast” connotes colonies being destroyed where settlers are losing their possessions and so on. “Burn Our Cities” produces an image of cities in ruins after a fire that leaves the settler with nothing. “He destroyed the lives of our people” connotes the king ruining people's lives by taking away their freedom and making people in America miserable by destroying things like “ravaged our coast” and “burned our cities.” “Our people” means that the American people are not part of the United Kingdom because Jefferson refers to them as “our” and that the people are part of the new government that is being created. The words in this sentence are in the past tense, meaning what the king did. This phrase has many visual aspects