DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE You are one of the delegates to the Second Continental Congress. After reading Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, you are convinced that America needs to declare independence from Britain. Your task is to write a Declaration of Independence to present to the other delegates. DO NOT LOOK AT THOMAS JEFFERSON’S DECLARATION. You must include three paragraphs. Your first paragraph should be about natural rights, your second paragraph should list and explain British wrongs, and your third paragraph should explain why America should be an independent nation. Include a title at the top of the document and your signature at the bottom. Things to Remember… When discussing basic, natural rights, keep in mind that these are the natural rights of all humans. What rights do you think all people deserve to have? What did the colonists want? What rights did they think they deserved? British wrongs include the acts Parliament passed and the way Great Britain treated the colonies. You should use your yellow notes (especially the timelines), as well as your textbook, to find things the British did that the colonists did not agree with. Why should America be an independent nation? You should recall some of the things we learned from Common Sense, other arguments we have read, and incorporate your own ideas. This assignment is worth 16 points and is due on ______________________________. STUDENT NAME____________________________ CATEGORY Ideas Sentences & Paragraphs 4 3 Ideas were expressed in a Ideas were expressed in a clear and organized fashion. pretty clear manner, but the It was easy to figure out what organization could have the Declaration was about. been better. Sentences and paragraphs are complete, wellconstructed, with high vocabulary, and of varied structure. Period________ Date____________ 2 1 Ideas were somewhat organized, The Declaration seemed to be but were not very clear. It took a collection of unrelated more than one reading to figure sentences. It was very difficult out what the Declaration was to figure out what the about. Declaration was about. All sentences are complete Most sentences are complete and Many sentence fragments or and well-constructed (one or well-constructed. There are a few run-on sentences OR no fragments, one or no run- sentence fragments or run-on paragraphing needs lots of ons). Paragraphing is sentences. Paragraphing needs work. generally done well. some work. Content Accuracy The Declaration contains at The Declaration contains 3-4 least 5 accurate facts about accurate facts about the the topic. topic. The Declaration contains 1-2 accurate facts about the topic. The Declaration contains no accurate facts about the topic. Neatness Declaration is typed (or in Declaration is neatly handcalligraphy), clean, not written, clean, not wrinkled, wrinkled, and is easy to read and is easy to read with no with no distracting error distracting error corrections. corrections. It was done with It was done with care. pride. Declaration is typed and is crumpled or slightly stained. It may have 1-2 distracting error corrections. It was done with some care. Declaration is typed and looks like it had been shoved in a pocket or locker. It may have several distracting error corrections. It looks like it was done in a hurry or stored improperly.