2. The Declaration of Independence Format, Background, and Results

3. The Declaration of Independence

4. Overall, the Declaration of Independence was, and is, the single greatest United States document. Declared to the world America’s freedome from Great Britain’s oppressive rule!

5. Chronology of Events –1776 June 7 -- Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, receives Richard Henry Lee's resolution urging Congress to declare independence. June 11 -- Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston appointed to a committee to draft a declaration of independence. American army retreats to Lake Champlain from Canada. June 12 - 27 -- Jefferson, at the request of the committee, drafts a declaration, of which only a fragment exists. Jefferson's clean, or "fair" copy, the "original Rough draught," is reviewed by the committee. Both documents are in the manuscript collections of the Library of Congress. June 28 -- A fair copy of the committee draft of the Declaration of Independence is read in Congress.

6. Chronology of Events (cont.) July 19 -- Congress orders the Declaration of Independence engrossed (officially inscribed) and signed by members. August 2 -- Delegates begin to sign engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence. A large British reinforcement arrives at New York after being repelled at Charleston, S.C. 1777 January 18 -- Congress, now sitting in Baltimore, Maryland, orders that signed copies of the Declaration of Independence printed by Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore be sent to the states.

7. The meeting of the Continental Congress (cont.) On May 10, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution that urged the states to form their own independent governments to replace the defunct royal governments. Despite this action, opinion remained divided over the wisdom of having the congress itself make a statement of independence

8. 1. THE INTRODUCTION 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. 1. The Introduction. This he opening paragraph; a single sentence beginning with "We the People..." It is sometime erroneously referred to as the Preamble, probably because the opening paragraph of the US Constitution is referred to as the Preamble to the Constitution.

9. 2. The Preamble 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. 2. The Preamble. The second paragraph, which begins with "We hold theses truths to be self- evident. The Preamble sets the logic al argument that people have rights, given not by men, but by their creator.

10. 2. The Preamble …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. The Preamble. This section states that people form governments to secure those rights and when a government becomes destructive of those rights, the people have a right and a duty to throw off that government.

11. The Declaration of Independence Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn 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. 2. Preamble (continued)

12. The Declaration of Independence: 2. The Preamble (cont.) This section warns against frivolous uprisings or takeovers merely for power. It says that responsible people do not and will not attempt these kinds of uprisings. BUT…

13. 3. The Indictment of King George 3. The Indictment of King George III. The list of wrongs the King has done to show the ways in which the King has abused the rights of the colonists.

14. 4. The Denunciation of the British people. A statement announcing not only the separation of colonial government from British government, but colonial people from British people and those loyal to Britain in the American colonies.

15. 5. The Conclusion The Declaration of Independence from the King and his British peoples is the only logical conclusion to be taken from the above.

16. The Thirteen Colonies of America

17. Have you ever wondered what happened to those men who signed the Declaration of Independence? – Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. – Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. – Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the Revolutionary War.