Pick Up Your Trash or You Might Get Embarrassed

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE MRS. AZRAK’S 8 TH GRADE CIVICS

America Begins  Today we are going to study the Declaration of Independence  Some say it was the greatest breakup letter of all time…  Others say the Declaration was America's Birth Certificate...

How did it all begin?  The date is June a group of wealthy landowners meet in Philadelphia to discuss the problems being caused by a tyrannical British King.  WHAT TO DO? oc/index.html

THEY DECIDED TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE KING…and tell it like it was…and they did!  The Continental Congress appointed a committee of five men – Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman to develop a public explanation for colonial unhappiness and to provide a reason for independence.

 It was a team effort but mainly Thomas Jefferson.  In the final stage, members of the Continental Congress offered their suggestions, which were not entirely welcomed by Jefferson.

Whose ideas inspired the writers of the Declaration of Independence?  Inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment...  People are born with natural __?___  If a government doesn't protect the rights the people have a right to __________________________________  Who said this? __________________________________

DID YOU KNOW?  The resolution passed on July 2,1776.  It was formally approved on July 4,  John Hancock was the first to sign and said “I wrote it large enough for King George to read it without his glasses.”

DID YOU KNOW? Copies of it were sent out to the newly declared states. Washington read it to his troops on July 9. In New York American soldiers tore down a statue of George III in celebration.

DID YOU KNOW BEN FRANKLIN SAID We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. At the signing of the Declaration of Independence

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT?  THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE HAS FIVE PARTS (REFER TO DOCUMENT ON YOUR DESK)  1. PREAMBLE- WHY AM I WRITING IT? 2. BELIEFS- WHAT DO I BELIEVE IS RIGHT FOR ME? 3. COMPLAINTS- WHAT YOU HAVE DONE WRONG!  4. EXPLANATION OF PREVIOUS ACTIONS- WHAT HAVE I TRIED ALREADY TO RESOLVE. 5. RESOLUTION – SO, NOW I AM GOING TO TELL WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

PART 1: THE PREAMBLE I) 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.  Analysis 1. What two actions are they going to take?  2. The introduction states the purpose or reason for issuing the Declaration. Who were we writing this to?

II. OUR BELIEFS: (A) What do we believe…hold dear?  Self Evident Truths  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 & the pursuit of happiness ;  What do we believe?

B) Purpose of Government  …that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ;  What do we believe about who holds the power in a government?

C) Reasons for Altering or Abolishing Government  …that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, i t 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.  What right do people have if a government is not protecting or respecting them?

 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 &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.  SHOULD ALTERING OR OVERTHROWING A GOVERNMENT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY? PROVIDE A SUPPORTING IDEA.

NOW…THE REST IS UP TO YOU!  Please work with your group to come up with one poster board which explains the parts of the Declaration of Independence that have been given to your group. You must:  Rewrite the original words  Explain your part in modern language  Include one graphic  Make sure everyone in the group is given equal time in presenting back to the class.