Meeting to Declare Independence
Do we want Independence?

____________________ introduced the idea of claiming independence from England
in his book, _______________________.

Congress decided to appoint a _______________ of five men to draft a Declaration
of Independence.

In order to get out of writing the declaration, John Adams said,
“________________________________________________,
_______________________________.” Plus, he wanted someone from the
______________ to write it because they needed support from those states.

________________________ was chosen to write the Declaration because he was
an excellent writer and from _________________.
Dear Monarchs of the World…

The Declaration of Independence is a ____________ to the nations of the world
explaining all the ______________ why we do not want to be part of
___________________ anymore.

It includes a list of __________________ or complaints
against the King.

The letter would be read by ___________ all over the world
so Jefferson had to be very _______________ about what he said.

He was trying to _________________ to kings why we were getting _______ of our
king without _____________ them and making them ______________ at us.
Treason! (a punishable act against your government)

By declaring the colonies to be free congress was committing ___________

___________ is when someone attempts to
___________ their own ______________ or to kill or
injure the _________ or the leader's family
personally

Franklin knew this and said, “We must all __________ ______________, or most
assuredly, we will all hang ___________________.”

If the war was _________, all 48 members of congress would be
_________________.
Signers (men who signed the D of I)

When signing, legend has it, that ________________________, was so
_____________ of his treasonous act, he wrote his name very _______________
on the Declaration so the ___________ wouldn’t have to use his ____________ to
read his name.
Happy Birthday!

“The Birth of a New Nation”
On _______________ Congress signed the Declaration of
Independence

The colonies now considered themselves as the
___________________________ ____________ and
_________________________ from Britain.
What does the Declaration say?
What Jefferson was saying was:
Sometimes it’s __________________ for a group to ______________ the
connection they have to another _____________. They need to take
______________ of their own lives. The laws of nature and of _________ give
them the ___________ to do this, but they have to _________ everyone what
they are doing and __________.
The Declaration
The Declaration of Independence was written to complain that our
__________________ _____________. Jefferson wrote: “to secure these rights
[our ____________________ rights] governments are instituted
[________________] among men, deriving [_______________] their just powers from
the ________________ _______________________________ [the people].
Vocabulary
___________________: given
___________________/inalienable: unable to be taken away (examples
________, ____________, and _____________)
___________________: taking away power unfairly
___________________: rule by a tyrant with absolute power
___________________: fair
___________________: correcting a wrong
The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776, but it
wasn’t until 1783 with the “Treaty of Paris” that King George the III
finally recognized the States as free and independent of Great Britain.
The Treaty also set out the border between Canada (still a British
Colony, and the new United States of America).