H.O.T-D.O.C.S Presents The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America In Congress, July 4, 1776 When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 2
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. 3
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states; For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; For imposing taxes on us without our consent; For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury; For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses; For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies; For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments; For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 4
He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. [Signed by] JOHN HANCOCK [President] New Hampshire JOSIAH BARTLETT, WM. WHIPPLE, MATTHEW THORNTON. 5
Massachusetts Bay SAML. ADAMS, JOHN ADAMS, ROBT. TREAT PAINE, ELBRIDGE GERRY Rhode Island STEP. HOPKINS, WILLIAM ELLERY. Connecticut ROGER SHERMAN, SAM'EL HUNTINGTON, WM. WILLIAMS, OLIVER WOLCOTT. New York WM. FLOYD, PHIL. LIVINGSTON, FRANS. LEWIS, LEWIS MORRIS. New Jersey RICHD. STOCKTON, JNO. WITHERSPOON, FRAS. HOPKINSON, JOHN HART, ABRA. CLARK. Pennsylvania ROBT. MORRIS BENJAMIN RUSH, BENJA. FRANKLIN, JOHN MORTON, GEO. CLYMER, JAS. SMITH, GEO. TAYLOR, 6
JAMES WILSON, GEO. ROSS. Delaware CAESAR RODNEY, GEO. READ, THO. M'KEAN. Maryland SAMUEL CHASE, WM. PACA, THOS. STONE, CHARLES CARROLL of Carrollton. Virginia GEORGE WYTHE, RICHARD HENRY LEE, TH. JEFFERSON, BENJA. HARRISON, THS. NELSON, JR., FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, CARTER BRAXTON. North Carolina WM. HOOPER, JOSEPH HEWES, JOHN PENN. South Carolina EDWARD RUTLEDGE, THOS. HAYWARD, JUNR., THOMAS LYNCH, JUNR., ARTHUR MIDDLETON. Georgia BUTTON GWINNETT, LYMAN HALL, GEO. WALTON. 7
8
Part I: Knowledge Level: Getting to know your document. This section requires you to research the document s origins and the historical context surrounding its creation. Directions: Please research answers to the following questions: 1. Who wrote the document? (Person) 2. When was it written? (Period) 3. Where was it written? (Place) 4. Why was it written? (Purpose) Part II: Comprehension Level Exercise One: Understanding and Decoding the Document through Vocabulary in Context. This exercise will help you to practice substituting synonyms for difficult words or phrases. This is a great way to decode words and to understand sentences. Directions: Each of the words or phrases in the word list below are synonyms of at least one of the words or phrases that have been highlighted in the document. Complete each of the blanks below with one of the synonyms which matches the meaning of the highlighted word or phrase. Write the highlighted term on one of the spaces on your worksheet, then write the synonym next to it. The first blank has been completed for you as an example. 9
! ScholarSkills All Rights Reserved 2015 Declaration of Independence: matching terms The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America In Congress, July 4, 1776 1.When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. Match these terms to the bold printed words in the paragraph above. legally gives position, standing forces take possession of or adopt break away from, put an end to authorities, countries, states 10
! ScholarSkills All Rights Reserved 2015 2.We hold these truths to be self-evident 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; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Match these terms to the bold printed words in the paragraph above. rights that cannot be taken away bring about obtaining permission of the people protect change right and fair get rid of, eliminate true without needing to be proven provided with these gifts completely believe establish or set up ability to seek success on your own terms goals, objectives 11
! ScholarSkills All Rights Reserved 2015 3.Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. Match these terms to the bold printed words in the paragraph above. sincere and honest many repeated wrongs reveals fix and restore unchanging used to willing a cruel government with complete rule over the people unimportant and temporary caution and wisdom 12
Matching Terms Worksheet Directions: Match the terms in bold with the word or group of words that means the same thing from the list of synonyms. Write the terms in bold in the order that they appear in the document, and write the term that means the same on the line next to it. The first one has been done as an example for you. 1.Dissolve to break away from or put an end to 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 13
22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Understanding the Document Now reread the document. As you read, substitute each of the highlighted words or phrases with the synonyms from the matching exercise. 14
Exercise Two: Fill in the blanks. This exercise is designed to help you to become more familiar with the actual vocabulary of the document. Directions: Please fill in the missing words without looking back at the original document. But, you may use any or all of the following words or phrases to complete the blanks. Word list: abolish / candid / truths/ consent of the governed / constrains / secure / created / destructive / dictate / disposed / dissolve / alter/endowed / self evident / evinces / instituted / light and transient causes / abuses / pursuit of happiness / repeated injuries and usurpations / safety and happiness / self-evident / sufferable/ necessary/ assume/ separate/ impel / liberty deriving/ duty/ security/ abuses/ prudence When in the Course of human events, it becomes for one people to the political bands which have connected them with another, and to among the powers of the earth, the and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which them to the separation. We hold these to be, that all men are equal; that they are by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life,, and the pursuit of Happiness; that, to these rights, governments are among Men, their just powers from the of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to it, and to institute new government, laying its on such principles, and organizing its in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their and happiness., indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for and causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 15
object, a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a world. 16
Exercise Three: Matching paraphrased statements with actual phrases and words taken from the document. This exercise is designed to help you understand the language of the document. It also requires you to cite the document. Citing and writing the document s actual language is a great way to increase your comprehension of the text. Directions: Each of the following statements is a paraphrase or summary of an idea in the document. Find the statement in the text that most nearly matches the paraphrase and write it on the lines below that paraphrase. Then, number the statements according to the order in which they appear in the document. People have a right to either change or remove governments that threaten to destroy their rights. Men create governments to protect these rights. Governments get their power from the people s permission. 17
We are not rash and capricious: we are not declaring independence foolishly or recklessly. What we re about to say does not have to be proven. It s right and polite to explain to the world why it s necessary to declare independence from Britain. We have no choice: Britain s behavior has forced us to declare our independence. 18
Men have specific God given rights that cannot be taken away. All nations have a right to be independent. 19
Exercise Four: Following the logic of the argument and placing ideas in their correct sequence. This exercise will help you to follow the flow or logic of the document. Directions: Note the order in which the statements in Exercise Three appear in the document. Explain why the writer placed them in that order: Is there a logical progression to his argument? Does each point lead to the other? 20
Exercise Five: Reading comprehension questions. This exercise is designed to help you understand the document s most important ideas. Directions: Please answer the questions below in complete sentences. 1. According to the first paragraph, why was this document written? 2. List the truths that Jefferson says are self-evident. 3. Who or what is the origin of these inalienable rights? (Where do these rights come from?) 4. Why are governments instituted by men? 5. Where do governments get their power? 6. When should people be able to alter or to abolish their government? 7. What should be the purpose of the new government that the people create to replace the one that they changed or removed? 21
Exercise Six: Making inferences. This exercise will require you to use evidence from the document to support or refute conclusions. Directions: Explain whether the author of this document would agree or disagree with each of the following statements: (Cite text from the document as evidence to support your conclusions.) A. People should change their governments as fast and as often as they want to. B. People will put up with just about any form of government as long as they can, no matter how bad it is. C. People have an obligation to resist tyranny, especially when they have been putting up with it for a while. D. The colonies have no choice: they need to establish independence. Drawing and supporting conclusions: Explain why each of the following conclusions can be drawn from the document by finding the phrase or clause that best supports the statement. Even though women, blacks, and other groups are not specifically mentioned, the very language of the document shows that they are included in all that Jefferson states. No group of people can claim racial superiority. People create governments to protect their rights. Governments are not the source of our rights. The people are the only true source of government s power. Anytime a government tries to take away the people s inalienable rights, that government has got to be changed or removed completely. 22
Exercise Seven: Academic writing: responding to arguments. This exercise requires you to think deeply about the document, and to use it as evidence as you write to support or to refute arguments that can be made from or about the document. Directions: Choose one of the statements below, and, using evidence from history and the ideas from the document, explain whether you agree or disagree with this opinion. Support your response with sound reasoning. I. A local school board decided that the Declaration of Independence should not be taught in schools because it mentioned a religious belief in a creator which might offend some people. Moreover, the Declaration was considered to be sexist since it didn t mention women. II. Someone once said that blacks should not even bother to learn about the Declaration of Independence because it is a hypocritical document written by a hypocritical man who owned slaves while he was writing about freedom. 23
Exercise Eight: Historical connections and significance: This exercise requires you to recognize the document s relevance throughout history. Directions: Read the following quotation. Then explain how this quotation can be used as evidence that this document can be considered as a foundation for freedom and democracy. Excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s I Have A Dream Speech In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. 24
Exercise Nine: Enduring themes: This exercise requires you to think about the document s impact throughout history and its continuing relevance. Directions: Write a cohesive paragraph in response to the question below. How would history and our lives be different if this document had never been written? 25
Exercise Ten: Summarizing the document. This exercise requires you to write a comprehensive summary of the document. Directions: In a well written paragraph, summarize the document s content and significance in your own words. Make sure that your summary contains specific references and/or quotations from the document. A comprehensive and accurate summary will contain answers to the following questions: 1. What is the Declaration of Independence? 2. Who wrote it? 3. When and where was it written? 4. Why was it written? 5. What are its most important ideas? 6. Why is the document so famous? 7. Why are its ideas still relevant to us today? 26