Reading: Thomas Jefferson- The Declaration of Independence
-I provided an example of the format the paper should be in (empty).
-I also provided pictures of the text. You can also search online for a summary. At the end of the questions, do a small journal entry.
–Answer the pre-reading questions:
1. Under what conditions may a people alter or abolish their government?
2. Why does Jefferson consider king George a tyrant?
–Answer the critical reading questions:
1.
What laws of nature dose Jefferson refer to in paragraph 1?
2. What do you think Jefferson feels in the function of government (para. 2)?
3. What does Jefferson say about women? is there any way you can determine his views from reading this document? does he appear to favor a patriarchal system?
4. Find at least one of the parallel structure in the Declaration (see p.117 in the section on Jefferson’s rhetoric for a description of parallelism) What key terms are repeated in identical or equivalent constructions, and to what effect?
5. Which causes listed in paragraph 3 through 29 are the most serious? are any trivial? which one are serious enough to cause a revolution?
6. What do you consider to be the most graceful sentence in the entire Declaration? Where is it placed in the Declaration? What purpose does it serve there?
7. In what ways does the king’s desire for stable government interfere with Jefferson’s sense of his own independence?
–Answer these calendar questions:
1. How does the document seem to define independence? use this definition as a basis for your own. To what extent does your definition agree with Jefferson?
–At the end have a little journal entry.
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