Benjamin Franklin, the author of “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One” uses sarcasm and wit to show the injustices of the British rulers toward their colonies; and he indirectly tells how their empire is falling because of these injustices. He makes his article like a handbook to tell leaders how to make their empire fall, by doing this he is showing the traits of the British Empire and how the colonists are being treated. Jefferson wrote the article almost two and a half years before America became and independent country. This was a time when many colonists were in revolt against Britain. This time period also surrounds the Enlightenment and its ideas and thoughts, which came to the colonies through intellectual men. The audience, which he is writing for, is the general colonists to fuel their hatred, and the leaders to show the wrongs they were committing. He also wrote as if he was speaking directly to the head ruler of a country. The main purpose of the article was to show how Britain’s ruling in the colonies was violating the natural rights of men, “ To annihilate this comfort, begin by laws to perplex their commerce with infinite regulations, impossible to be remembered and observed; ordain seizures of their property for every failure, take away trial of such property by jury” an Enlightenment idea that says that al men are born with the natural rights of life liberty and property. Also it showed how Britain was weakening itself, the Enlightenment idea that a nations military power rests in its Navy was not used by Britain properly, “Convert the
