Declaration of Independence
Deep Dive
I can… ascribe meaning to the
introduction of the Declaration of
Independence
Date, Place, and Person
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen
united States of America,
Date, Place, and Person
• Tells the Where and When
• Tells the Who and gives name to the body
submitting the Declaration
• Notice the lower case u in united – Tells the
importance of unity at this point, the States
are what is important
Purpose
When in the Course of human events, it
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected
them with another,
Purpose
• States the conditions upon which a
Declaration of this sort must be written (When
in the course of human events…)
• States a purpose ‘dissolving political bands’
Purpose
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,
Purpose
• Refers back to the ‘one people’ of the previous
thought – what will they do once the political
bands are dissolved?
• Set up a new sovereign government (equal
station)
• Grounded in law and natural thought
Why?
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation
Vocabulary: Impel – to Force
Why?
• Why are the colonists, now Americans doing
this?
• Felt the reason for Independence should be
stated for posterity (declare the causes…)
Reasoning
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal,
Reasoning
• “We Hold these truths…” – these are things
everyone should be able to see clearly (selfevident)
• “All men…” refers NOW to all people, at the
time, not so much – a black spot on American
History
Reasoning
that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Reasoning
• Rights given by God, or Creator – implies
religious thought
• All rights and privileges stem from the three
areas of Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness
Why those rights?
That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed,
Why those rights?
• Explains the reason a government should exist
in the first place, and from where a
government’s power should come from
(Consent of the Governed)
Establishment of Purpose
That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
Establishment of Purpose
• If a government stops allowing “Life, Liberty,
and the pursuit of Happiness” it must be
overthrown and it is the right of the governed
to do so
• Remember where the power to govern comes
from!!
Establishment of Purpose
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.
Establishment of Purpose
• Right of the people to form a new
government, by consent of the governed, and
based on the ideals that will be most likely to
secure Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness
Seriousness
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for
light and transient causes;
Seriousness
• Governments should not just be changed on a
whim – especially ones that have been around
a long time – Declaring Independence is a
dramatic step and last resort!!
Seriousness
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.
Seriousness
• History has shown that people are more
willing to suffer under a government they
know than to make their lives better by
establishing a new government
• Suffering will last as long as it can
Denouncement
But when a long train of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
Object evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute Despotism,
Denouncement
• When a ruler or government becomes to
harsh in its own wants/needs begins taking
away the rights and freedoms of the governed
Hope
it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new Guards for
their future security.
Hope
• The right, political and moral, to overthrow
the government and set up a new one that
will safeguard the rights of the governed
Justification
–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.
Justification
• The colonies have suffered as long as they can,
and will now do as Jefferson suggests earlier
by changing who/what is governing them
Blame
• The history of the present King of Great Britain
is a history of repeated injuries and
usurpations, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute Tyranny over
these States.
Blame
• The King is to blame for the injustices leveled
at the Americans (repeated injuries and
usurpations) and has become a tyrant
Blame/Indictment
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid
world.
Blame/Indictment
• Jefferson will lay out the proof of the King’s
Tyranny in following sections, in plain
language, so that everyone in the world
understand WHY the Americans MUST
become Independent.