Parsing the Language of Freedom

Duke professors analyze the words of the Declaration of Independence

close up on part of the Declaration of Independence

This is a summary of a story by Scott Huler on DukeMag.

From the moment on July 8, 1776, when militia officer and financier John Nixon finished reading aloud the Declaration of Independence to a cheering crowd in Philadelphia’s grassy State House Yard, the document’s words have been analyzed, dissected and interpreted over the past centuries leading up to its 250^th birthday.

The Declaration’s assertion, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” has been called the greatest sentence ever written.

The document’s words are once again being considered owing to the nation’s semi-quincentennial, and here as part of Duke and Durham’s We the People celebration of the nation’s founding.

One of the local centerpieces of the We the People celebration is a centuries-old copy of the document on loan to Duke and Durham from the collection of Duke alumnus and former board chair David Rubenstein.

Now, days before the nation’s birthday celebration, a great many citizens and non-citizens alike are parsing the words and the meaning of the Declaration, including Duke associate professor of history Reeve Huston and his students.

Huston says the first question he asks his students focuses on the Declaration’s not-as-famous sentence that begins with, “When in the course of human events …” before asking them to supply the statement’s subject and verb.

“It takes them a while,” he said. “There are so many subordinate clauses.”

(Psst. The answer is “respect” and “requires.”)

Priscilla Wald, R. Florence Brinkley Distinguished Professor of English, also directs her students’ attention to the Declaration’s opening paragraph, noting that the document’s authors shrouded major actions within the construction of the sentence.

“We’re only doing this because, ‘in the course of human events, it becomes necessary,’ said Wald. “The passive construction of that: We’re not choosing to do this; we’re being forced to do it.”

Read the full story on Duke Mag.