Spreading the word… Enlistment An army Public support State militias Continental Army Women/African Americans Public support Pictures – Join, or Die (unite, create a common enemy) Literature – Common Sense (put the situation in laymen’s terms) Authority/Leadership – Declaration of Independence (government providing an explanation of why we are fighting)

Common Sense Philadelphia January 1776

Author…Thomas Paine (ouch) Writes as a common person (anonymously) to the common man “There is something very absurd in supporting a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.” What is Paine saying? Citizens, not Kings and Queens, should make laws Why is this a bold statement?

Abuse of power by the King A new way 2 Abuse of power by the King = TYRANNY

Colonial dreams… economic freedom 4

Declaration of Independence What is it?

Authors…Committee of Five Robert Livingston Ben Franklin Thomas Jefferson Roger Sherman John Adams

Thomas Jefferson All men are created equal… Youngest of the committee (33) Virginia delegate Drafts a version that includes elements from previous documents/writings over a period of three weeks Committee/CC revisions Acceptance July 4, 1776 56 Signatures: John Hancock

Five Parts Introduction Preamble This section will declare the causes that makes this document necessary Preamble States our self-evident principles (explains what is innately ours as a human) States that a government is established to protect those rights/principles

Five Parts Body One Body Two Conclusion Lists the abuses that King George III has imposed on the colonists (violations of those rights) Body Two Discusses the attempts at peace and reconciliation Conclusion States colonial freedom

What truths are self-evident? created All Unalienable (undeniable) Rights

What truths are self-evident? created to these ‘s When govt. becomes destructive of these rights… have the create a new 2

Declaration of Independence Stated the conditions that made the Declaration of Independence necessary Described the basic rights of people Proved the conditions existed in Colonial America (basic rights being violated) Ends all allegiance to Great Britain