Name:
Date:
Core:
U.S. History
Focus on the Declaration of Independence
A Modern Look at the Colonists’ Grievances
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” all people are
entitled to “certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.” These are some of the most well-known and important words from the Declaration of
Independence, but they only account for a small fraction of the document. The bulk of the
Declaration of Independence consists of a list of 27 grievances that the founding fathers had against
the British. A grievance is an official statement of unfair treatment.
The Declaration of Independence was adopted by our country on July 4th 1776, but a copy of
the document did not arrive in England until much later. Historians are still uncertain how long it
took before the Declaration of Independence officially arrived in Great Britain, but it was not until
late October in 1776 that the King officially addressed the document in public (remember that the
document was adopted by the founding fathers in July of that year). As you can imagine,
technology was quite different in 1776. Back then information did not travel as fast as it does today.
If the Internet had existed in 1776, the King would have received this information much quicker.
Just imagine if the founding fathers had access to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in 1776.
Would Thomas Jefferson post selfies? Would George Washington defriend Benedict Arnold?
Today you are going to look over the list of grievances that the founding fathers included in
the Declaration of Independence and modernize them. We are going to be turning a “primary
source” into a “secondary” source.
Step 1. Identify a Grievance. Select a grievance from the Declaration of Independence. Be sure to read
over all of the grievances before making your selection. Some are more challenging than others.
For Imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.
Step 2. Determining the Main Idea/Gist. The next step is to determine the main idea/gist of the
grievance. What were the colonists complaining about? What were they trying to tell the king?
For Imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.
Highlight key words in the grievance to help you understand the main idea.
Write down a main idea statement based on the highlighted words (the colonists were angry
that the British were taxing them without their permission)
Step 3. Modernize the Grievance. The next step is to paraphrase. Think about ways you can
modernize the grievance so that it is easier to understand. Try and write it as if it were a “tweet” being
sent to the king. Your tweet should be concise (no longer than 140 characters*). Include a relevant
hashtag that relates to the gist/main idea.
Founding Fathers:
@foundingfathers
@KingGeorgeIII What’s with Taxing us W/O giving us a Say? That’s messed up!
#BritishTyrants
*Mr. Higgins will not be counting characters…so feel free to exceed this limit a little bit if the need
arises.
I have so many
complaints, how will I
communicate them
all in 140 characters?
Name:
Date:
Core:
U.S. History
A Modern Look at the Declaration of Independence:
Tweeting the Colonists’ Grievances
Directions: Use the step by step guide you were given in class to complete this assignment. You must
modernize two different grievances. Please be sure to note the “tier level” of the grievance in the
primary source section of the assignment.
Primary Source (Identify Grievance from Declaration of Independence)
Circle one
Main Idea/Gist of Grievance:
Founding Fathers:
@foundingfathers
Tweet #2 Goes on the Back
Tier:
1
2
3
Primary Source (Identify Grievance from Declaration of Independence)
Circle one
Main Idea/Gist of Grievance:
Founding Fathers:
@foundingfathers
Tier:
1
2
3