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Dissecting the Declaration of Independence. By: Donna Boudreau-Hill Summer 2010. Learning Objectives The Students will:. Place the drafting of the Declaration within colonial context of the quest for Independence Discover the people behind the thoughts
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Dissecting the Declaration of Independence By: Donna Boudreau-Hill Summer 2010
LearningObjectivesThe Students will: • Place the drafting of the Declaration within colonial context of the quest for Independence • Discover the people behind the thoughts • Dissect the Declaration into component parts • Evaluate and analyze selected components • Draft their own Declaration
Essential Questions • Why was the Declaration of Independence written? (Causes) • Who were the people behind the declaration? • What does the Declaration of Independence say?
Setting the Stage • Why risk “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” seeking Independence? Social Causes Political Causes Economic Causes
Social Causes • Changing Times in Colonial America • Traditional ways of establishing livelihood disappearing • Fathers can no longer divide land between sons (running out of space/land) • Property creates self-sufficiency and social status • Without property you become a “slave” • Creates “revolutionary consciousness” needed • Grass roots town meetings spread ideas – not led by elite class • Equality before the law seen as necessary to thrive and succeed = key element of “liberty”
Political Causes • Seek Liberty = collective expression to regulate own affairs • Seek Political Voice – stake in what is happening to community • Ignored over and over again by Britain • Need Representation to regulate affairs • Experienced in self-government
Economic Causes • The Squeeze is on…. • Post war debts • Depression • Few orders for goods • Taxes – Who can tax a colonist? • Stamp Act – alienates people • Townsend Act • Tea
Picture It PoliticalCauses Social Causes INDEPENDENCE Economic Causes
The Stage is Set • Generations had divided and passed on land to their heirs…. Was this means of self-support gone? • Without representation in British Parliament, weren’t the colonies therefore independent from British rule? • How can one sustain a family and oneself if the government from afar is constantly seeking to infringe on your wealth? • Why won’t they listen to the colonists?
The days of petitioning the King were over – It was now time for…..THE SOLUTION – A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Drafters - Writers – Authors • Second Continental Congress – 1776 • The Committee of 5 • Thomas Jefferson • John Adams • Benjamin Franklin • Robert Livingston • Roger Sherman • Edited by Continental Congress
Drafters - Writers – Authors • Men experienced with self-government • Property owners who had a stake in success • Desire for a well-ordered republic over a “mob-ocracy” • Freedom could not be secure under British rule • Written in haste in a matter of days
Drafters - Writers – Authors • The “other” Declarations – express voice of “the people” • Virginia and New Jersey - formally concluded British rule with their own state constitutions • Rhode Island and Maryland – declared their own independence • Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina, Pennsylvania all support fight for independence and draft formal statements of commitment to cause Maier, Pauline. American Scripture. The Making of the Declaration of Independence. Vintage Books: New York. 1997. p.49
What does it say?A Reading of the Declaration of Independence
Breaking it Down • The sections • Introduction • Preamble • The Body – Grievances/Charges • Conclusion and Summation
The Introduction“The introduction states that this document will "declare" the "causes" that have made it necessary for the American colonies to leave the British Empire.” (Allison, Jim. Declaration of Independence: Preamble. Web. 15 July, 2010. ) 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. • ONE sentence conveys sense of epic importance. (Maier p 132.)
The Preamble • WHAT IS A PREAMBLE • (1) Preamble.A clause at the beginning of a constitution or statute explanatory of the reasons for its enactment and the objects sought to be accomplished. Generally, a preamble is a declaration by the legislature of the reasons for the passage of the statute and is helpful in the interpretation of any ambiguities within the statute to which it is prefixed. It has been held however to not be an essential part of act, and neither enlarges nor confers powers. • Black's Law Dictionary, abridged Sixth Edition, Centennial Edition (1891-1991) West Publishing Co. (1991) p 813
How Would You Do It? • ASSIGNMENT: • Choose a partner • Draft a Declaration against the need for weekend homework. • Your declaration should contain the appropriate parts. Use the Declaration of Independence for your model.
Concluding Remarks • The Declaration: • Provided a vehicle to announce independence to colonists • is NOT the LAW, but sets up the laws in the Constitution • is NOT a petition to the King – it is a DECLARATION • IS a logical and orderly document • IS based on documents that already existed • IS a public confession of treason delivered to the King • UNITED the revolutionary consciousness that developed over years in the colonies • Inspired soldiers to a cause • Created a sense of Nationhood (Maier p 152)
