1. The Declaration of Independence P 154-157
Watch celebrities reciting the Declaration of Independence then notes, then RSA P

2. The United States Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress.

3. The Enlightenment Movement
The Enlightenment spread the idea that reason & logic could improve society
Enlightenment thinkers believed there was a SOCIAL CONTRACT between government and citizens
Philosopher John Locke thought people had NATURAL RIGHTS such as equality and liberty
These ideas directly influenced the writing of the Declaration of Independence
Need another slide explaining social contract & Natural rights need assignment over both

4. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
On January 10, 1776 Thomas Paine put his ideas on American independence into a pamphlet called Common Sense
It was the most influential political pamphlet ever written.
Paine was brutal toward the King and toward the idea that things would end well
If he had argued calmly and reasonably, he would not have been inspiring
He had to inspire the ‘common man’ to reach for the musket above the fireplace
Common Sense reached across the seas and was translated into French, Dutch, and German
Within 3 months 120,000 copies were sold
Read by as many as a million people
In Common Sense, Paine states that sooner or later independence from England must come, because America had lost touch with the mother country

5. Common Sense was written for the ‘common man’; men who would shed their blood in the rebellion
Paine states that sooner or later independence from England must come, because America had lost touch with the mother country.

6. Declaring Independence
Common Sense had a huge impact on the hearts and minds of Colonial Americans.
Changed the way colonists viewed their king.
Made a strong case for economic freedom.
Believed colonists had the right to military self defense against tyranny—the abuse of govt. power.
Stated people should make the laws not the king or queen
people had a natural rights

7. A New Philosophy of Government
3 Ideas of the Declaration of Independence
All people possess unalienable rights:
- life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness.
King George had violated the colonists right by taxing them without consent.
Jefferson believed King George had broken the social contract that says the governments and rulers must protect the rights of citizens.
Unalienable: incapable of being transferred to a new owner
King George passed unfair laws that interfered with the colonist government.
Philosopher John Locke’s ideas were an important influence on the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson restated Locke’s contract theory of government when he wrote in the Declaration that governments derived “their just Powers from the consent of the people.”
When writing the first draft of the Declaration, Jefferson primarily drew upon two sources: his own draft of a preamble to the Virginia Constitution and George Mason’s draft of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights.
Some of the most famous lines in the Declaration of Independence were inspired by Virginia’s Declaration of Rights by George Mason. Mason said: “all men are born equally free and independent.” Jefferson's Declaration of Independence said: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Mason listed man's “natural Rights” as “Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursuing and obtaining Happiness and Safety.” Jefferson listed man's "inalienable rights" as "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

8. Independence Hall

9. The Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress.
The Second Continental Congress formed a committee known today as “The Committee of Five.”
John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, & Thomas Jefferson
The Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson, with minor changes from Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.
The Second Continental Congress formed a committee known today as “The Committee of Five. Members included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson
The committee consisted of two New England men, John Adams of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut; two men from the Middle Colonies, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York; and one southerner, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.
Jefferson was the least likely choice
At 33, he was the youngest delegate at Philadelphia
Adams or Franklin seemed to be the logical choice
Adams was actually first believed to be the author of “Common Sense”
Robert Livingston, one of the members of the committee who wrote the Declaration of Independence, never signed it. He believed that it was too soon to declare independence and therefore refused to sign.
Jefferson did not like being in the middle of the city, so he found a room at Jacob Graff’s home.
• Jacob Graff was a bricklayer who had built his house on the outskirts of town.
• Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in under three weeks at Graff’s house.
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and member of the Committee of Five died on July 4, And John Adams, also a committee member, died on the same day.

10. The Committee of Five first presented the document to Congress on
After Jefferson wrote his first draft of the Declaration, the other members of the Declaration committee and the Continental Congress made 86 changes to Jefferson’s draft, including shortening the overall length by more than a fourth.
Jefferson was quite unhappy about some of the edits made to his original draft of the Declaration of Independence. He had originally included language condemning the British promotion of the slave trade (even though Jefferson himself was a slave owner). This criticism of the slave trade was removed in spite of Jefferson’s objections.
In his first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson [wiki] listed the British crown’s support and importation of slavery to the colonies as one of the grievances:
"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither."
The passage, however, was edited out by request of the delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. Jefferson (himself a slave owner!) remained upset about this removal of the condemnation of slavery until his death.
The Committee of Five first presented the document to Congress on
June 28, 1776

11. Jefferson’s Oops!
Historians have always wondered about a smear under the word "citizens" in an early draft of the Declaration of Independence. They've wondered if Jefferson had written "our fellow patriots" or "our fellow residents." Using a spectral imaging technology, researchers revealed the truth: Jefferson had a Freudian slip and wrote "subjects" instead of citizens.
Seldom can we re-create a moment in history in such a dramatic and living way," Library of Congress preservation director Dianne van der Reyden said at Friday's announcement of the discovery.
"It's almost like we can see him write 'subjects' and then quickly decide that's not what he wanted to say at all, that he didn't even want a record of it," she said. "Really, it sends chills down the spine."

12. THE COLONIES DECLARE INDEPENDENCE
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Lee’s Resolution and declared independence from Great Britain.
Most of the world is ruled by monarchs at this time.
The Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on July 4, On July 1, 1776, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, and on the following day 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee’s motion for independence. The delegates then spent the next two days debating and revising the language of a statement drafted by Thomas Jefferson. On July 4, Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence, and as a result the date is celebrated as Independence Day. Nearly a month would go by, however, before the actual signing of the document took place. First, New York’s delegates didn’t officially give their support until July 9 because their home assembly hadn’t yet authorized them to vote in favor of independence. Next, it took two weeks for the Declaration to be “engrossed”—written on parchment in a clear hand. Most of the delegates signed on August 2, but several—Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean and Matthew Thornton—signed on a later date. (Two others, John Dickinson and Robert R. Livingston, never signed at all.) The signed parchment copy now resides at the National Archives in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom, alongside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
2. More than one copy exists. After the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the “Committee of Five”—Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston—was charged with overseeing the reproduction of the approved text. This was completed at the shop of Philadelphia printer John Dunlap. On July 5, Dunlap’s copies were dispatched across the 13 colonies to newspapers, local officials and the commanders of the Continental troops. These rare documents, known as “Dunlap broadsides,” predate the engrossed version signed by the delegates. Of the hundreds thought to have been printed on the night of July 4, only 26 copies survive. Most are held in museum and library collections, but three are privately owned.
3. When news of the Declaration of Independence reached New York City, it started a riot. By July 9, 1776, a copy of the Declaration of Independence had reached New York City. With hundreds of British naval ships occupying New York Harbor, revolutionary spirit and military tensions were running high. George Washington, commander of the Continental forces in New York, read the document aloud in front of City Hall. A raucous crowd cheered the inspiring words, and later that day tore down a nearby statue of George III. The statue was subsequently melted down and shaped into more than 42,000 musket balls for the fledgling American army.
4. Eight of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were born in Britain. While the majority of the members of the Second Continental Congress were native-born Americans, eight of the men voting for independence from Britain were born there. Gwinnett Button and Robert Morris were born in England, Francis Lewis was born in Wales, James Wilson and John Witherspoon were born in Scotland, George Taylor and Matthew Thornton were born in Ireland and James Smith hailed from Northern Ireland.
5. One signer later recanted. Richard Stockton, a lawyer from Princeton, New Jersey, became the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to recant his support of the revolution. On November 30, 1776, the hapless delegate was captured by the British and thrown in jail. After months of harsh treatment and meager rations, Stockton repudiated his signature on the Declaration of Independence and swore his allegiance to King George III. A broken man when he regained his freedom, he took a new oath of loyalty to the state of New Jersey in December 1777.
6. There was a 44-year age difference between the youngest and oldest signers. The oldest signer was Benjamin Franklin, 70 years old when he scrawled his name on the parchment. The youngest was Edward Rutledge, a lawyer from South Carolina who was only 26 at the time. Rutledge narrowly beat out fellow South Carolinian Thomas Lynch Jr., just four months his senior, for the title.
7. Two additional copies have been found in the last 25 years.  In 1989, a Philadelphia man found an original Dunlap Broadside hidden in the back of a picture frame he bought at a flea market for $4. One of the few surviving copies from the official first printing of the Declaration, it was in excellent condition and sold for $8.1 million in A 26th known Dunlap broadside emerged at the British National Archives in 2009, hidden for centuries in a box of papers captured from American colonists during the Revolutionary War. One of three Dunlap broadsides at the National Archives, the copy remains there to this day.
8. The Declaration of Independence spent World War II in Fort Knox. On December 23, 1941, just over two weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the signed Declaration, together with the Constitution, was removed from public display and prepared for evacuation out of Washington, D.C. Under the supervision of armed guards, the founding document was packed in a specially designed container, latched with padlocks, sealed with lead and placed in a larger box. All told, 150 pounds of protective gear surrounded the parchment. On December 26 and 27, accompanied by Secret Service agents, it traveled by train to Louisville, Kentucky, where a cavalry troop of the 13th Armored Division escorted it to Fort Knox. The Declaration was returned to Washington, D.C., in 1944.
9. There is something written on the back of the Declaration of Independence. In the movie “National Treasure,” Nicholas Cage’s character claims that the back of the Declaration contains a treasure map with encrypted instructions from the founding fathers, written in invisible ink. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There is, however, a simpler message, written upside-down across the bottom of the signed document: “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776.” No one knows who exactly wrote this or when, but during the Revolutionary War years the parchment was frequently rolled up for transport. It’s thought that the text was added as a label.

13. The Declaration of Independence was adopted by 12 of 13 colonies (New York not voting) on July 4, 1776, but wasn't actually signed by all the delegates until August 2, 1776.
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights—known collectively as the Charters of Freedom,
One of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration of Independence is that it was signed on July 4, In fact, independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776, a date that John Adams believed would be “the most memorable epocha in the history of America.” On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration. It wasn’t signed until August 2, 1776.
The Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776, breaking all ties to the British crown.

15. Left: the Original Right: an Engraving
The Declaration of Independence was written on parchment, which is basically treated animal skin (typically sheepskin). It was inked with iron gall ink, which is made by combining fermented oak marble galls with ferrous sulfate.
John Hancock, the President of the Congress, was the first to sign the sheet of parchment measuring 24¼ by 29¾ inches.
The two youngest signers of the Declaration of Independence were both from South Carolina. Thomas Lynch, Jr. and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina were both born in 1749 and were only 26 when they signed the Declaration. Most of the other signers were in their 40s and 50s. The oldest signer of the Declaration was Benjamin Franklin, who was born in 1706 and was therefore already 70 at the time of the Declaration.
Nine of the signers of the Declaration died before the American Revolution ended in 1783.
No one who signed the Declaration of Independence was born in the United States of America. The United States didn't exist until after the Declaration was signed! However, all but eight of the signers were born in colonies that would become the United States.

16. A handprint appears on the bottom left corner of the Declaration of Independence. The origins and circumstances of the handprint are not known. The document was handled, rolled, and traveled about and exhibited extensively in its early life. Attempting to clean the handprint and other soil that has worked into the parchment could damage the fragile document.
Yes, there actually was something written in the back of the Declaration of Independence. But instead of an invisible map like in the Nicholas Cage blockbuster movie National Treasure, it only said "Original Declaration of Independence, dated 4th July 1776" at the bottom of the document, upside down.

17. In 1989, a bargain hunter who bought an old and torn painting for $4 at a flea market found an old copy of the Declaration of Independence tucked away between the canvas and the frame!
It turned out to be one of the 200 official copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, called the Dunlap Broadsides. Before this discovery, only 24 copies were known to exist.
The lucky bargain hunter sold his copy of the Declaration at an auction for $8.14 million!

18. Unfinished Business…
Declaration of Independence did not include women, slaves, or Native Americans.
Women were the chattel of their fathers or husbands
Slavery was legal in 1776 –
steps were taken by 1780 to abolish slavery in parts of the US
Native Americans rights were disregarded
The Proclamation of 1763 was largely ignored by US settlers
This message is not consistent with the practice of democracy.
Slave: govt. recognized NO rights for African Americans.
Native Americans: ignored them: disregarded the Proclamation of 1763.
John Adams was one of the delegates…Abigail Adams asked her husband to include women.

19. Structure of the Document
1. Preamble:
The Introduction
Explains the reasons for writing the Declaration
"WHEN, in the Course of human events"
2. Statement of beliefs:
Says what the Framers believe
The philosophy behind the document
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident"
3. List of complaints:
The things Britain did that caused the need for Independence
"To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World"
Preamble: the reasons for writing down the Declaration
(from "WHEN, in the Course of human Events" to "declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.").
What reason(s) did the Founding Fathers give for their decision to write out a declaration?
Statement of beliefs: specifying what the undersigned believed, the philosophy behind the document
(from "We hold these Truths to be self-evident" to "an absolute Tyranny over these States").
What beliefs did the Founding Fathers declare they held?
List of complaints: the offenses that impelled the declaration
(from "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World" to "unfit to be the ruler of a free people").
What are a few of the complaints?
Are any specific events mentioned?
If not, is the information given sometimes sufficient to figure out to which events the complaints refer?

20. Structure of the Document
4. Statement of prior attempts to redress grievances:
What the Framers had tried in the past to fix the problem
"Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren,“
5. Declaration of independence:
Statement that they are formally cutting ties with Great Britain
"WE, therefore,……do solemnly publish & declare,”
6. The signatures:
All the delegates who were willing to sign
List of complaints: the offenses that impelled the declaration
(from "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World" to "unfit to be the ruler of a free people").
What are a few of the complaints?
Are any specific events mentioned? If not, is the information given sometimes sufficient to figure out to which events the complaints refer?
Statement of prior attempts to redress grievances:
(From "Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren," to "Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.")
In what way(s) did the framers claim to have already tried in addressing the complaints?
Declaration of independence:
(From "WE, therefore" to "and our sacred Honour.")
What will change in the colonies as a result of the Declaration?
The signatures: Which signers do students recognize?

21. RSA: Copy down & memorize the following quote from the Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

22. Declaration of Independence
Preamble:
Declaration of Independence
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.

23. Statement of Beliefs:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
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24. List of Complaints:
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
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25. List of Complaints:
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
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26. List of Complaints:
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
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27. List of Complaints:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
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28. List of Complaints:
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.  He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

29. List of Complaints:
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
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30. Statement of prior attempt to redress greivances:
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

31. Declaration of Independence:
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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32. The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1 Georgia:    Button Gwinnett    Lyman Hall    George Walton
Column 2 North Carolina:    William Hooper    Joseph Hewes    John Penn South Carolina:    Edward Rutledge    Thomas Heyward, Jr.    Thomas Lynch, Jr.    Arthur Middleton
Column 3 Massachusetts: John Hancock Maryland: Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton
Column 5 New York:    William Floyd    Philip Livingston    Francis Lewis    Lewis Morris New Jersey:    Richard Stockton    John Witherspoon    Francis Hopkinson    John Hart    Abraham Clark
Column 6 New Hampshire:    Josiah Bartlett    William Whipple Massachusetts:    Samuel Adams    John Adams    Robert Treat Paine    Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island:    Stephen Hopkins    William Ellery Connecticut:    Roger Sherman    Samuel Huntington    William Williams    Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire:    Matthew Thornton
Column 4 Pennsylvania:    Robert Morris    Benjamin Rush    Benjamin Franklin    John Morton    George Clymer    James Smith    George Taylor    James Wilson    George Ross Delaware:    Caesar Rodney    George Read    Thomas McKean
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