| Topic: |
Ideas that Shaped the Declaration of Independence |
| Teacher: |
Korty |
| Objective: |
The student will demonstrate knowledge of events and Issues of the Revolutionary Period by analyzing how the political ideas of John Locke and those expressed in Common Sense helped shape the Declaration of Independence. |
| Number: |
VUS4A |
| Materials: |
Printed copies of:
The Declaration of Independence, Common Sense, and Two Treatises on Civil Government
Blank paper, markers, highlighters. |
| Date: |
7/4/2004 |
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| Anticipatory Set: |
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Teachers should pass around one copy of each of the three documents. The teacher should ask the students to assess which two documents provide the ideas behind the third. |
| Direct Instruction/Essential
Knowledge: |
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The Declaration of Independence: The eventual draft of the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, reflected the ideas of Locke and Paine:
1: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
2: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
3: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
4: Jefferson then went on to detail many of the grievances against the king that Paine had earlier described in Common Sense. |
| Instructional Strategies:
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Each student is given a set of each of the three documents and 2 highlighters (yellow and blue). The students read the three documents looking for the commonality of language and ideas. They highlight phrases or ideas from Common Sense in yellow, and the ideas from Two Treatises on Civil Government in blue, highlighting those on their copy of the Declaration of Independence in the appropriate color.
Then the students are given blank sheets of paper. They fold one into thirds, one into halves, and leave one flat. The one that is in thirds becomes a brochure; the one in halves represents a book, and the flat one a declaration. Ask them to take a pen or pencil and label each one with the title, the author and the common ideas. Ask them to do this
from memory. Those that are unable to complete it from memory may go back to their original documents to fill in the information. For those that had to go back to the original documents, give them a second set of blank sheets of paper and repeat the procedure a second time from memory. |
| Closure: |
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The teacher should summarize verbally the essential knowledge for the students. Then the teacher should ask verbally a series of questions to the students based on the Essential Knowledge ideas and have the students label the idea as being derived from John Locke or Thomas Paine. Have them exchange their answers. Check to see how many got 70 percent correct. |
| Evaluation/Assessment: |
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Use the following instrument to ascertain whether the student has achieved mastery of the information.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".
1: The quotation above is directly from which document?
a) The Declaration of Independence
b) Two Treatises on Civil Government
c) Common Sense
d) Spirit of the Laws
2: The ideas that all men are created equal and have natural rights originally were written about by what author?
a) Thomas Paine
b) John Locke
c) Thomas Jefferson
d) John Paine
3: Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence both include:
a) a list of grievances against the king
b) a list of reasons why the king is supreme
c) a list of religious ideas
d) a list of territorial disputes
4: The idea that government derives its power from the consent of the governed originated from what document?
a) The Declaration of Independence
b) Two Treatises on Civil Government
c) Common Sense
d) The U.S. Constitution
“That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government…”
5: This quotation from the Declaration of Independence was based on the ideas of the Enlightenment, as first expressed by:
a) Thomas Paine
b) John Locke
c) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
d) Voltaire |
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