What does the word "course" mean as used here? Look it up!

Please note that this is not the word 'coarse', a homonym that means rough or crude or rude. Look it up! The word 'course' means 'path' or 'way' or 'road' (as in 'golf course').

So what do you think the phrase "When in the course of human events" means? It means 'the road that the nation has traveled through time' or 'when in human history'.

What does the phrase "one people" mean?

I know what a person is: a person is an individual. And I know that 'persons' is the plural of person, as in, "I gave my telephone number to two persons." (Not a common usage, but acceptable.) And I know what 'people' means; it means more than one person. I could as easily write, "I gave my telephone number to two people."

But what does 'a people' mean? It refers to the inhabitants of an area or a group of people who share a common culture, heritage, language and/or customs.

Here, the phrase 'a people' means the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies. This document is identifying them or defining them as one group with similar interests. Remember 'we the people' from the Constitution? Here 'a people' is used in a similar fashion: 'we the people' and 'a people' refer to the same 'people', the citizens of the United States. 'A people' in the Declaration became 'we the people' in the Constitution.

What does the word "dissolve" mean? Look it up!

One meaning is to 'disband' or 'break up'. That is the meaning in this case.

Another meaning of the word is scientific: When you put sugar in your coffee, for example, it 'dissolves' or 'becomes part of' the solution (coffee and water). The sugar is said to 'dissolve' into the coffee. It disappears. (If you put so much sugar in your coffee that it can’t dissolve any more, you have 'saturated' the solution.)

What does the word "bands" means as used here? Look it up!

A 'band' could be a stripe, a strip, a belt, or a ring, as in a band of color along the wall. Or, commonly, a 'band' is a group that plays music, isn't it? 'Band' has another meaning, however, to 'pull together' or to 'be together'. A musical band is called a 'band' because all of the musicians play together. They have 'banded' together to create music. A wedding ring is called a wedding 'band' as it signifies the joining together of two people. It is this sense of the word band that is used here: a union or a bond.

What does the phrase "political bands" mean in this context? If a wedding ring symbolizes a 'band of love' (or a 'bond of love'), then 'political band' would be the 'power' bond between the colonies and the mother country (between America and England). 'Political' refers to politics, which is the study of power relationships. Therefore, 'political bands' means the 'power relationship' or 'bond' between the two countries.

Therefore, 'dissolving the political bands which have connected them with another' means that the colonies would no longer be colonies of England, but, together would form a new, independent country (the United States).

What does the word "assume" mean? Look it up!

It means 'to take upon oneself'. For example, I can assume the responsibility of looking up these words in the dictionary. That means I take it upon myself to be responsible for this and to do it.

What does the phrase "among the powers of the earth" mean?

Does it refer to wind and rain and rivers and oceans and sunlight? These are all 'powers' in that they are 'powerful'? No!

Once again, this is a political document; therefore "power" as used here, refers to politics. In political science, a 'power' is a country with military (or economic or social) force. The 'powers' of the earth refers (chiefly) to the European nations that existed at the time (which included England, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and Austria).

What does the word "station" mean? Look it up!

Most commonly, today, when we hear the word 'station', we think of a train stop or bus depot. Yet this word also means 'position' or 'post' or 'rank'.

Therefore, the phrase 'separate and equal station' means that the new country which has declared itself to be independent (by cutting or 'severing' the political bonds between themselves and England) should have the same respect as every other independent nation.

Earning the respect of other countries was very important to Jefferson and the other signers of the Declaration of Independence. Much of the language used and the 'argument' that the Declaration puts forth (presents) is designed to convince the world that the colonists were correct in their actions and were therefore worthy of the respect of other countries.

The new country (the United States) was called an 'experiment in democracy'. The people of the colonies were taking a great chance: war with England could end in their deaths or imprisonment. If they were able to have the support of some of the other 'powers', then perhaps they could succeed in their effort to be independent of England. (In fact, England's greatest enemy of the time was France, and France did help the American colonists in their war of independence from England).

What does the phrase "To which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them" mean?

First, the word "entitle"; what does it mean? Look it up! It means 'give the right' or 'permit'.

Second, what does the phrase "Laws of Nature" mean? This is one of Jefferson's appeals to an authority. You will recall that the proving process included the ability to rely on an accepted authority to determine the truth (or judge the facts) of a situation. In this case, Jefferson is invoking (calling upon) the idea that the natural world (Nature) has certain ways of operating (called 'laws'). The appeal is to science and scientific fact: a law of nature is a scientific fact, as in the 'law’ of gravity' (which Galileo is said to have been experimenting with at the Tower of Pisa, you may recall). In slang, this is often expressed as: 'what goes up must come down'.

This idea was that using scientific concepts and using scientific language would generate a certain respect for what is said.

Now, who is "Nature's God"?

Please notice that the word 'God' begins with a capital 'G'. This is not simply the custom of the time, as it is with the other nouns. In English we always capitalize the word 'God' when we are referring to the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible (New and Old Testaments; Jehovah or Jesus). When referring to other 'gods' or when discussing, for example, the 'gods' of ancient Greece, the word 'god' or 'gods' is not capitalized.

This is another appeal to an authority: in this case religion. Jefferson is taking no chances with his audience. He wants everyone to understand that both scientific fact and religious belief allow their actions (declaring independence).

In other words, not only is what they are doing consistent with the laws of nature (science) but these actions are also consistent with nature's God (religion). Jefferson was seeking to head off the criticism that the revolutionaries were doing something 'unnatural' or 'heretical' (look it up! it means doing or believing something that is not accepted by the established religion).

What does the phrase "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind" mean?

Here the authors of the Declaration come out and say that they are trying to earn the respect of all of humankind by showing similar respect. When he writes 'a decent respect for' he is saying that the people of the United States respect the opinions of all others.

And now the phrase, "requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation"?

What does "impel" mean? Look it up!

'Impel' means to 'push' or 'hurl' or 'drive' or 'throw'. The chief element here is that the force comes from within someone. Another word, 'compel', also means to force or push or drive; however, the emphasis is on someone or something from the outside exerting the pressure on someone or something.

Consequently, the phrase means 'they are required to state the reasons which drive them to the separation'.

This first sentence states the purpose of the declaration; which is to explain to the world why the colonists are declaring independence form Great Britain.