AP US PAK 3 Research Questions to Help You Analyze the Declaration of Independence (2)

7/27/2019 AP US PAK 3 Research Questions to Help You Analyze the Declaration of Independence (2)

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Research Questions to Help You Analyze the Declaration ofIndependence

1. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

2. The Historical Context of the Declaration of Independence:

When did the Second Continental Congress sign the document?

Why did the delegates sign the Declaration of Independence?

Why were the colonists revolting against Great Britain?

3. Jefferson blamed King George III in the Declaration of Independence for the colonies separating

from Great Britain. But why? The authors of your textbook write as if the American Revolution

was caused by American refusal to submit to the revenue acts imposed on the colonists byParliament. To understand why Jefferson blamed King George III, let’s explore the issue of

blame.

(1)

Why were the colonists protesting, boycotting, and rioting over the Stamp Act, theTownshend Duties, the Tea Act, and the Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) between 1763

and 1774? What part of the British government were the colonists blaming then? Why?

(2) Look through the list of charges Jefferson made against King James III in the Declarationof Independence that should really be blamed on Parliament. Write down 3 or more of

those charges that were wrongly blamed on the king.

(3) What 3 things did King George III do between 1763 and 1770 that upset the people of

Boston and the other colonists?(4) In your research what reason did you learn Jefferson had for laying blame on King George

III?

4.

What does the word “sovereignty” or “sovereign” mean? Who does Jefferson im ply in the first paragraph of the Declaration is sovereign in these new United States: President, Congress,

Supreme Court, or Citizens?

5. Thomas Jefferson borrowed his ideas about inalienable rights and his notions about government

from, John Locke, an English philosopher during the Enlightenment. Let’s explore Locke’s

influence on Jefferson.1st The Locke called this theory of government a social contract. Explain.

2nd What did he see were the four natural rights all men had?

3rd What did he write was the purpose of government?

4th What actions did he say these subjects have the right to do if the king and/or Parliament violate their natural rights?

5th What influence did the English Civil War (1642-1651) and the Glorious Revolution

of 1688 have on Locke’s theory of government?

6. Did Jefferson actually mean when he wrote his immortal words, “All men are created equal?”

Look for a moment at the contradictions that show up when we begin to ask what Jefferson meant

by these words. Jefferson may NOT have meant what we think he meant. Let’s look first at thecontradictions.



1) What contradictions to these words glare at us from Jefferson’s wealth, economic

status, and social standing as a Virginia planter? Is it possible to really believe

Jefferson believed the words he wrote “all men are created equal” was a “self -evident

truth?” Explain. 2) Now read the passage in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence where

Jefferson indicted (i.e., formal accusation in a court) King George III of waging a

“cruel war against human nature.” What was this “cruel war” waged by King GeorgeIII? What evidence did Jefferson present to support the indictment? How would a

reasonable person believe Jefferson was serious when he wrote this indictment against

King George III knowing Jefferson was a wealthy Virginia slaveholder? Why was this

indictment dropped in the final version of the Declaration of Independence adopted bythe Second Continental Congress?

3) Another problem is what Jefferson meant when he used the identifier “men” in the phrase

“all men are created equal.” Who do Americans today say the “men” are? How did

Jefferson and the other men at the Second Continental Congress define the word “men”? Now try to reconcile these three contradictions and explain what you think Jefferson

probably was saying when he wrote that all men are created equal. Which groups of

Americans does Jefferson exclude from his definition of “men”?

7. Jefferson’s three inalienable rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – are political and

economic rights, NOT licenses to live any way that makes a person happy and allow him to dowhat he wants. Most Americans believe the latter.

1) Discuss Jefferson’s inalienable rights of life and liberty as political rights.

2) The last inalienable right, the “pursuit of happiness,” is tough to translate into modern

speech. Let’s approach it this way. What did John Locke call the last of his natural rights?

What name did Jefferson give to this natural right? How does Locke’s name clue us as in

as to what Jefferson’s pursuit of happiness is really all about? What is Jefferson telling us

when he writes that we have the inalienable right to pursue happiness?

8. Jefferson lays the foundation for government in the latter half of the second paragraph of the

Declaration of Independence. Again he borrowed heavily was the purpose of good government?

What did Jefferson write makes a good government bad? What 2 options does Jefferson giveAmericans when our government ignores our inalienable rights, passes laws which trample these

rights, and enforces those laws?

9. Let’s apply Jefferson’s ideas about inalienable rights and how we govern ourselves to the

troublesome issues in our society today and yesterday.

1) “But when a long train of abuses and ursurpations, 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 for their future security…” In the mid-late

19th century, one section of the nation follow Jefferson’s council and revolted against the

Constitution and the federal government. What do we call their revolution? What issue

did they think was marked by “a long train of abuses and ursurpations?” 2) What are some of the abuses – give 3-5 – where some Americans are currently protesting

that the federal government, state governments, and/or city governments have been

trampling their rights?3) Jefferson wrote, “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should

not be changed for light and transient causes….” List 3-5 ways we, Americans, go about



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AP US PAK 3 Research Questions to Help You Analyze the Declaration of Independence (2)