Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

“The Declaration of Independence” (99)

1.       State the main idea/purpose in the first section of the declaration (Section 1 begins on p. 100 with “When, in the course of human events…”).

2.       In the first main section, Jefferson lists 27 Abuses and Usurpations of power committed by King George III of England.  Put five of these in your own words. (Abuses and Usurpations begin with “He has refused” on p. 101. They continue, mostly one per paragraph, over the next two pages.)

a.        

b.        

c.         

d.         

e.         

3.       Abuse 27 was entirely removed from the Declaration. How would the course of American history have been changed if it were included?

4.       State the main idea/purpose in the second section of the declaration (Section 2 begins on p. 104 with “In every stage of these oppressions…”).

5.       State the main idea/purpose in the third section of the declaration (what are the colonists resolved to do?). (Section 3 begins on p. 105 with “We, therefore, the representatives…”)

6.       Find two examples of parallelism within the text.  For each, state the example and the effect it has on the text.

a.         

b.        

7.       What Rationalist characteristics are reflected in “The Declaration of Independence”?