The Declaration of

Independence

Declaration of Independence

• A. Members of the Continental Congress have also read Common Sense.• 1. Richard Henry

Lee from Virginia, in June of 1776, asks Congress to declare independence.

The Fateful Step

• 1. No turning back if they declare independence.• a. If caught, Britain would hang all of the

Congress as traitors - person who betrays his/her own country.

The Fateful Step cont

• 2. Congress organized a committee of five men to create a declaration of Independence.• a. John Adams, Ben Franklin,

Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson.

The Fateful Step cont

• b. The committee lets Thomas Jefferson create the rough draft

• c. Franklin and Adams would make some changes to Jefferson’s version before taking it to Congress.

The Fateful Step Cont.

• 3. Congress voted the 13 colonies free and independent states on July 2nd and accepted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776.• a. July 4th from that time

on has been celebrated as Independence Day

What makes up the Declaration? ( 4 parts)

• 1. Part 1 ( Preamble)• a. Thesis

• 2. Part 2 (Basic Rights)• a. “Life, Liberty, and the

Pursuit of Happiness.”• b. If not given these, the

people have the right to overthrow the government.

What makes up the Declaration?

• 3. Part 3 (British Wrongs)• a. List of what the King and

Parliament had done wrong.

• 4. Part 4 (New Government)• a. The colonies are now “the

United States of America.”