The Declaration of Independence

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The Declaration of Independence

• Carolyn Moore
• E.P. Todd Elementary School
• November 9, 2003

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• The Revolution was effected before the war
  commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and
  hearts of the people
• John Adams
  
• Colonial Leader from
  Massachusetts

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• For many years, colonists living in America
  were content under British rule. Even though each
  colony had a royal governor to oversee the
  government, Parliament allowed colonial
  legislatures to make some of the laws that
  affected them.
• In the late 1700s, this began to change.

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Problems with Parliament

• Costs of French and Indian War
• Proclamation of 1763
• Greater authority of colonial governors
• Sugar Act
• Stamp Act
• Intolerable Acts

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The Colonists React

• Letters and petitions to the King
• Boycotts
• Boston Tea Party
• Committees of Correspondence
• First Continental Congress

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• I know not what course others may take, but as
  for me, give me liberty or give me death!
• Patrick Henry
• Virginia House of Burgesses
• March 1775

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• After the fighting at Lexington and Concord, a
  Second Continental Congress was called. It met in
  Philadelphia in May, 1775. Congress petitioned
  for peace and prepared for war.
• By 1776, after a year of fighting,
  independence was on the minds of many colonists.

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• June 2, 1776
• Resolved, 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
• Richard Henry Lee
• Delegate from Virginia
• With this resolution from the colony of
  Virginia, the Second Continental Congress began
  official debate on independence

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• June 11, 1776
• A writing committee is created to draft a
  document which, if approved, would declare
  independence from Great Britain.
• Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, John
  Adams, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson form
  the committee.

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• The committee entrusted the writing of the
  document to Thomas Jefferson.
• Jefferson, a tall redhead from Virginia,
  coupled his own ideas with those he had learned
  from his reading to write what became the
  Declaration of Independence.

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Jefferson's Rough Draft of the Declaration of
Independence

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• July 2, 1776
• After a month of debate, in a unanimous vote,
  Congress approves Virginias resolution for
  independence.
• This vote changed the American colonies into
  the United States of America.

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• July 3, 1776
• Congress debates the Declaration of
  Independence.
• Jeffersons original text is discussed and
  argued, and changes are made.

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• July 4, 1776
• Congress adopts the Declaration of
  Independence. The final version of the document
  contains four distinct parts, each with its own
  purpose
• Preamble
• Statement of Rights
• Charges Against the King
• Statement of Independence

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The Signing of the Declaration of Independence
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• July 8, 1776
• The Liberty Bell is rung at the State House in
  Philadelphia, and the Declaration of Independence
  is read to the public for the first time.

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• In a letter to his wife, John Adams described
  how he thought the occasion of the birthday of a
  new nation should be celebrated
• It ought to be solemnized with pomp and
  parade, with shows, games, sports, bells,
  bonfires, from one end of this continent to the
  other, from this time forward for evermore.

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References

• Boehm, Richard. et al. Early United States.
• Orlando Harcourt Brace and Company,2000.
• Fink, Sam. The Declaration of Independence. New
  York Scholastic Inc. 2002.
• Fradin, Dennis Brindell. The Signers. New York
  Scholastic Inc. 2002.
• All images from the American Memory Collection,
  The Library of Congress
• Sound from 2000 Music Clips, rights purchased
  from Media Graphics International, 1998.