“The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson
Guided Reading Questions
(blue questions, Comprehension Check)
pgs. 271-279
Blue Questions pgs. 271-276
1-8: The colonists felt that they needed to
explain their reasons for rebellion to the world
because to them, it was necessary to “dissolve
the political bands which had connected them”
to Britain, and that they deserved equal
treatment in regards to “the laws of nature”
and “nature’s God.” Therefore, it was
necessary to explain their reasons out of
“respect to mankind.”
Blue Questions pgs. 271-276
Lines 12-14: The colonists felt that the
purpose of government was to ensure
basic rights such as “life, liberty, and
pursuit of happiness.”
Lines 15-17:The colonists felt that it
was right to destroy a government
when it “becomes destructive” in
regards to people’s basic rights.
Blue Questions pgs. 271-276
Lines 20-22: The colonists felt that
government should not be changed for
“light and transient causes,” or trivial
reasons.
Lines 39-59: The Governors refusing to pass
needed laws, calling meetings at
inconvenient places, dissolving assemblies,
and not providing for new elections were
some of the hardships the colonists faced.
Blue Questions pgs. 271-276
Lines 65-69: The hardships the British created
for the colonial courts were the king
refusing to approve laws to establish courts
and making judges’ terms in office and
their salaries uncertain.
Lines 81-84: The objections the colonists had
about British soldiers in America were that
the colonial legislatures had not consented
to their presence and were dangerous
because they were protected from
wrongdoing.
Blue Questions pgs. 271-276
Lines 85-101: The
additional hardships put
on colonial lawmakers
were their laws being
abolished and legislatures
suspended.
Comprehension Check pg. 279
• The main reason for writing the Declaration,
which is stated in the Preamble, was that the
colonists wanted to explain to the world their
reasons for separating from England.
• According to the Declaration, the three rights
all people have are “life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.”
• The three complaints the colonists had against
the king were: the dissolving of representative
houses, refusing to pass necessary laws, and
keeping standing armies in the colonies.
Parallelism in
“The Declaration of Independence”
• The use of similar grammatical forms
or sentence patterns to express ideas
of equal importance is called
parallelism.
• Makes both written and spoken
expression more powerful.
• Jefferson uses parallelism in the
Declaration to emphasize the equal
importance of all his complaints.
Examples of Parallelism in
“The Declaration of Independence”
We have warned…
have received…
For quartering…
cutting off…
He has kept…
combined…
We have reminded…
For protecting…
He has affected…
We
For
He has