1. The Declaration of Independence

2. John Locke(1632-1704) Consent of the Governed Social Contract
The right to rule comes from the people
If the monarch violates rights, the people can overthrow him.
Social Contract
People set up government and agree to be governed by it
People have natural rights of life, liberty, and property

3. Why did we declare independence?
Proclamation Act of 1763
British declared that colonists could not settle west of the Appalachians
This enraged farmers and speculators

4. Why did we declare independence?
Stamp Act – 1765
Required stamps to be placed on printed materials
First direct tax Britain had placed on the colonists
Results
Sons of Liberty formed to resist the tax due to taxation without representation
Colonists began boycotting England’s goods

5. Why did we declare independence?
Intolerable Acts – (Coercive Acts)
Passed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party
Shut down Boston’s port
The government would be appointed by Parliament
Trials could be transferred to England
Colonists were required to house British soldiers

6. The decision to assert independence
Intolerable Acts united colonists
Committees of Correspondence proposed plans to meet
First Continental Congress – 1774 created the Albany Plan of Union

7. The decision to assert independence
Lexington and Concord (1775) – first shots of Revolution
Second Continental Congress (1775) called for the Continental Army

8. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Paine attacked the King, not just Parliament
Changed public opinion to desire to declare independence

9. The Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson
Continental Congress issued it on July 4, 1776
This began the United States of America