The Declaration of Independence

All Men are Created Equal?

The Declaration of Independence Timeline

June 7 – Richard Henry Lee - –Introduced the resolution: “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”

June 11 – The Committee of Five –(Video Clip)
Benjamin Franklin,  John Adams, Robert R. Livingston,  Roger Sherman –Thomas Jefferson (Chosen to do the actual writing)

The Preamble

Introduction explaining that separation has become necessary to preserve natural law & natural rights (We have unalienable rights) Power  comes from consent of the governed

Immediate Effect: Revolution & establishment of a new nation!!

Long-Term Effects: Committed America to carry out the highest political ideals of the age     Jefferson: “An expression of the American mind.”

The DOI’s message of “equality” has continued to serve as a model for other societies even though America has struggled with the concept itself (racism; sexism; etc.)

Also draws international attention from potential allies Who? •Why?

Men of the Declaration
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated.

But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These men were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education.