Word Clouds/Infographics

The word cloud below shows the top 100 words in the Declaration of Independence. I would use this word cloud in my second unit, which explores the American Revolution, as the opening for the lesson on the Declaration of Independence. One of the major focuses of the unit is the causes of the American Revolution and the ideals that the United States was founded upon.

By looking at the most common words in the Declaration of Independence, we can analyze as a class the ideals of the document. For example, the biggest words are "states" and "laws." If you look at the actual text of the Declaration of Independence, students will see that "laws" is one of the biggest words because the colonists are upset that the British are passing laws that the colonists disagree with and don't have a say in. Secondly, students will see that "states" is the other most popular words because the colonies were formally declaring their independence and calling themselves the United States to show that they were unified against Great Britain.