Assignment/Activity Title

Declaration of Independence
Assignment
Year Sophmore
SkillWriting
Portfolio Category Critical
Reasoning
In this assignment I had to change the key words of the Declaration of Independence in order to
alter the main topic of the document to reflect one of my beliefs. I used this paper to voice my opinion on
unfair religious discrimination. I focused most of it on the various past wars that have occurred based on
differences in religious affiliations. This project challenged me because I had to adapt my writing to the
older English used in the Declaration of Independence in order to keep the writing style consistent. I also
had trouble with making specific attacks, and instead I safely stuck to very broad arguments. This made
my paper less effective and persuasive than it could be.
During this assignment I found myself gaining a broader knowledge of the context of the
Declaration of Independence. It allowed me to focus on the document line by line and fully absorb all of
the desired effects. I now realize that each line in the Declaration of Independence has a specific purpose
for being there and should not go ignored. The Declaration of Independence was written in an exact
fashion so that its ideals could be altered based on how the United States and its people change. The
choice to write the Declaration of Independence in a broader sense allows the people of the United States
to somewhat have a choice in how the document is interpreted. I tried to incorporate this way of writing
into my paper by using broad terms when needed.
My goal while writing this paper was to effectively demonstrate my ideas behind forced religion
and the turmoil it can cause. I used my knowledge from prior history classes by giving examples of
religious discrimination in the real world, these examples included various religion-based wars. I also
acquired a deeper understanding of religious discrimination and common tactics of how to avoid it to an
extent. The thinking I did while writing this paper was very valuable to me. At this time in our country,
much critical thinking should be done about the religious disputes that have been going on. The topics of
religion I discussed in this assignment are very relevant to today's world and convey how extra
precautions should be taken in order to avoid uncalled for discrimination.

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