Lesson 3

The Declaration of Independence

PREAMBLE Why it was needed

CONCLUSION

GRIEVANCES

STATEMENTOF

RIGHTS

Important Ideas about

Government

Complaints about the King and Parliament

DeclaringIndependence

DE

CL

AR

AT

ION

OF

IND

EP

EN

DE

NC

E

Preamble ( introduction)Explain why a Declaration is needed:

Statement of Rights: Describe your ideas about government

A List of Grievances: Explain your complaints against the King and Parliament.

Declare your Independence:

Planning Your Declaration of Independence

The Preamble 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.

Handout

Ideas about Government 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.

Happiness includes the right to own property

Handout

Grievances

1. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

2. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

3. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

4. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us5. For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world6. For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent7. For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury8. For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering

fundamentally the Forms of our Governments9. For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to

legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.10. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War

against us.11. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of

our people.12. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of

death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

Handout

Directions: Describe in your own words three complaints of the colonists. The King had made colonists give food and shelter to British

soldiers.

The King had sent officials to the colonies who gave colonists a hard time.

The King had closed down the colonial legislatures.

Directions: Choose 1 of the complaints from the list and identify it by number. Then, describe a specific event connected to the complaint. An example has been listed for you.

Number Event

Example

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

10

Directions: Choose 1 of the complaints from the list and identify it by number. Then, describe a specific event connected to the complaint. An example has been listed for you.

Number Event

Example

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

10 The Battle of Bunker Hill

Everyone would agree the one and only Declaration of Independence deserves the best. After all, it's at the heart of our country. But since it was signed in 1776, the Declaration has had as many ups and downs as the United States itself. It has been rolled up, copied, hidden away and traveled by horseback, sailing vessel, mail truck, railroad car and military tank. After being front and center of a new nation, it has escaped two British invasions and survived for more than two centuries of both peaceful times and devastating wars. What a journey!