Dissecting the Declaration of Independence


Name:                                                                                                                              Period:
The Declaration of Independence was created in an atmosphere of complaints about the treatment of the colonies under British rule. In this lesson you will be given the opportunity to look at the composed document of the Founding Fathers complaints and how they structured their Proactive approach to solving those complaints.
We will discuss the Declaration together, using the following section-by-section questions help you relate this overview of the Declaration to our previous discussion.
•Preamble: the reasons for writing down the Declaration (from "WHEN, in the Course of human Events" to "declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation."). What reason(s) did the Founding Fathers give for their decision to write out a declaration?


•Statement of beliefs: specifying what the undersigned believed, the philosophy behind the document (from "We hold these Truths to be self-evident" to "an absolute Tyranny over these States"). What beliefs did the Founding Fathers declare they held?


•List of complaints: the offenses that impelled the declaration (from "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World" to "unfit to be the ruler of a free people"). What are a few of the complaints? Are any specific events mentioned? If not, is the information given sometimes sufficient to figure out to which events the complaints refer?


•Statement of prior attempts to redress grievances: (From "Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren," to "Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.") In what way(s) did the framers claim to have already tried in addressing the complaints?


•Declaration of independence: (From "WE, therefore" to "and our sacred Honour.") What will change in the colonies as a result of the Declaration?


•The signatures: Which signers do students recognize?

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