archy. The colonists believe power should flow up from the people to the rulers. The British believe power should flow down from the King to the subjects. The two different uses of the world power also change the tone of the document. The colonist's definition of power as coercive in the hands of the King and good in the hands of civil authorities identifies the King as the enemy. He takes on the role of the enemy because he clutches the power in pre-colonial society. The tone of the Declaration of Independence becomes more severe; the Declarations vilifying of the fundamental power imbalances between the colonies and the King make the break between the two unbridgeable. The break between the colonies and the King became not just a tax or policydifference anymore, but a fundamental philosophical difference. The colonists meaning of the word power changes depending on who possesses the power. In the hands of the King power corrupts in the hands of the colonists and the people it takes on divine qualities. The colonist's analysis of who has power fascinates. The colonists believe power to be a force that emanates from fixed points in society. In contrast more modern thinkers such as Nietzche and Foucault believe power flows throughout all of society (Miller 15). The colonists perceive in England power emanates directly from the King. Because of this interpretation they blame the King for the manywrongs they list in the body of the Declaration of Independence. The colonists do not blame the people of England or the English legislature. This allows the tone of the Declaration of Independence to soften. Instead, of being an attack on the institutions of English society the Declaration only attacks the King, the holder of power. Foucault's interpretation of power would differ sharply from the framers of the Declaration Of Independence. Foucault sees power as coming from the many technologies that society uses to control people...
