1. UNPACKING THE FIRST 2 SENTENCES OF THE PREAMBLE and MORE!
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
July 4, 1776

2. THE FIRST TWO SENTENCES
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
In your notes, write down the key words and phrases that stand out to you for good or bad reasons:
…AND WHY? BE PREPARED TO SHARE, UNCLE SAM (AND MS. WINTER) WILL CALL ON YOU!

3. WHAT DO THESE PHRASES MEAN
WHAT DO THESE PHRASES MEAN? DO THEY FIT YOUR IDEA OF FREEDOM AND EQUALITY?
“…the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them…”
“…a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation…”
“self-evident”
“…that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…”
“…inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Do you think everyone agrees?

4. Tools of persuasion: MORE RHETORICAL DEVICES
parallelism
repetition
Repetition is the repeating words or phrases, is a rhetorical device to reinforce meaning or rhythm. (Follows no grammatical pattern--just repeated words that do not necessarily connect to the meaning).
“Let America be America again.”
“O, let America be America again—”
Parallelism the use of similar grammatical structures to emphasize the relationship among ideas or show that they have equal weight or importance. (typically it is a noun followed by a verb)
“I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—”

5. Literary Terms to Own: Theme Tone Diction Syntax
The main meaning of a text. What we, as readers, are to learn from reading it.
The writer’s attitude towards the subject of the text.
Diction
Syntax
Word choice/selection.
The arrangement of words in a given sentence or text.

6. OH YAY, MS. WINTER! BACK TO THE ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS AGAIN?! YES!
After thinking about only the first two sentences of the preamble, what are your responses to the following essential questions? Refer back to the text:
How can belief systems be used as tools of persuasion?
Can controversial actions be justified by one’s belief system?
Whose belief system should dictate the rules of society?
How do belief systems change as new generations develop their own identities?