The Declaration of Independence

Background Information

P.138 (Guide for Interpreting) (Thomas Jefferson)

1. What year was Thomas Jefferson born? What year did he die?

2. How many people were President of the United States before Jefferson? Do you know who they were?

3. Which college is Jefferson responsible for founding?

4. What was Jefferson an outspoken defender of?

5. As president, how did Jefferson double the size of the nation?

P. 138 (Guide for Interpreting) (Thomas Paine)

6. What year was Paine born? What year did he die?

7. What did Paine's publication, "Common Sense," argue?

8. What turned American public opinion against Paine?

P. 138 (Background for Understanding)

9. Which parts that Jefferson wrote were removed from the Declaration of Independence by Congress?

10. What would have happened to the people who signed the Declaration of Independence had America lost the war?

P. 139 (Grammar and Style)

11. What is parallelism?

P. 139 (Literary Focus)

12. What is persuasion?

P. 139 (Reading Strategy)

13. What are "charged words"?

P. 140 (The Declaration of Independence)

1. Read paragraph 1. Why did Jefferson include phrases like "laws of nature" and "nature's God"?

2. Read the first line of paragraph 2. What does Jefferson want readers to infer from this line?

3. Build Vocabulary: What is the definition of "unalienable"? What are some rights that you think should be "unalienable"?

4. Build Vocabulary: What are "usurpations"?

P. 141 (The Declaration of Independence)

5. Critical Viewing: Look at the painting on page 141. What is the mood of this painting? How does the mood suit the occasion? (Relate)

6. Who does Jefferson refer to as a "tyrant"?

P. 142 (The Declaration of Independence)

7. Critical Viewing: Look at the flag on page 142. Contrast this 1781 flag with today's American flag. What do the stars on this one and the current one represent? How does today's flag represent the importance of the thirteen stars shown here?

8. What were the colonists forced to provide for British armed forces?

P. 143 (The Declaration of Independence)

9. Build Vocabulary: What is the definition of "magnanimity"?

P. 143 (Check Your Comprehension)

10. What are the three "unalienable" rights listed in the second paragraph?

11. According to Jefferson, when should a government be abolished?

12. List three statements presented to support his claim that the king's objective is "the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states."