Drafting the Declaration: the Jefferson Desk and the Declaration of Independence
Era 3: Standard 1: The causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests involved in forging the revolutionary movement, and the reasons for the American victory.
1A: The student understands the causes of the American Revolution.
- Therefore, the student is able to:
- Analyze political, ideological, religious, and economic origins of the Revolution.
- Reconstruct the arguments among patriots and loyalists about independence and draw conclusions about how the decision to declare independence was reached.
1B: The student understands the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence.
- Therefore, the student is able to:
- Explain the major ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence and their intellectual origins.
- Demonstrate the fundamental contradictions between the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the realities of chattel slavery.
- Draw upon the principles in the Declaration of Independence to construct a sound historical argument regarding whether it justified American independence.
- Explain how key principles in the Declaration of Independence grew in importance to become unifying ideas of American democracy.
