Name____________________________________ Section__________________ Date________________
The Declaration of Independence primer
1. (163) Which pamphlet was published in January 1776 that helped to persuade colonists to declare
independence from Britain? Who wrote it?
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. (163) In May 1776, did most members of the Second Continental Congress support INDEPENDENCE
from Britain?
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3. (painting 164) A “Committee of Five” was chosen to write a draft of a Declaration of Independence.
Who were the five men from left to right in the painting? Put a STAR next to the main author.
A.__________________________________
D.__________________________________
B.__________________________________
E.__________________________________
C.__________________________________
4. Which member of the “Committee of Five” was from Connecticut?
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. In what city was the Declaration of Independence written and signed? (in the Penn. State House)
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6. (164) On what month, day, and year was the Declaration officially adopted by Congress?
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7. (164) Who was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence?
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He signed his name in large letters. What did he say after he signed his name? Use quotation marks.
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FIVE PARTS OF THE DECLARATION (166-167)
8. PART ONE is called the ______________________, which is an introduction.
9. PART TWO explains human rights—the rights of people—and why the colonists have the right to be
independent.
A. Complete the following statement from this part. End with the word “happiness”.
You will need to memorize this for the unit test!
We hold these truths to be__________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
B. What are three of the natural rights (“unalienable rights”) that Thomas Jefferson wrote in this
part?
________________________________________________________________________________
He borrowed these words from English philosopher J___________ L______________, who wrote
during the period known as the E___________________________.
10. PART THREE is a list of COMPLAINTS against King George III in England. List two complaints that we
studied. (Use both pages 167 and 168).
Complaint #1 ________________________________________________________________________
Complaint #2 ________________________________________________________________________
11. In PART FOUR, Jefferson explains how the colonists tried to MAKE PEACE with the King.
We studied a letter that the Congress wrote to the King in 1775 to avoid war, called the
________________ ___________________ Petition. King George III refused to read it.
12. In PART FIVE, the colonies “break up” with King George III and England. They declare themselves FREE
AND INDEPENDENT of England.
Give me a short quotation from this part that gives evidence that the colonies are leaving their mother
country and saying “Bye-bye, Georgie”. (You need not quote a whole sentence.)
“_________________________________________________________________________________”