Ms. Nicoll History Unit 1 

 
Name: Almarah Urman 

Date: 9/7/17 

Class: 8th Grade - US History 

 
Slides and Notes
 
Topic Student Notes

The Declaration of Independence 

Title 
Unit 1: Lesson 2 

Analyze the philosophy of government expressed in the 

Main Idea  Declaration of Independence​, with an emphasis on 
government as a means of securing individual rights.  

● 1774-1789, Americans formed the Continental 

Congress 
● Congress served as the government of the 13 
colonies and later the states 
● The First Continental Congress met in 1774 
Background 
● was comprised of delegates from the colonies 
Information 
● In reaction to the coercive Acts series of measures 
imposed by the british government on the 
colonies in response to their resistance to new 
taxes 
● Traitorous act, resistance against England 

● 1775 they first convened 

● Convenes after the Revolutionary war starts 
The Second
● Wrote the Declaration of Independence in June 
Continental
1776 
Congress
● A committee of people wrote it, But Thomas 
Jefferson wrote most of it 

● Five years later, the continental congress wasn’t 

working 
● They wrote The Articles of Confederation- the first 
Then what? 
national constitution which governed until 1789 
● In 1789 it was replaced by the constitution we 
know today 

 
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Ms. Nicoll History Unit 1 

The Declaration of Independence officially announced 

the Colonies break from England. 
 
What is important  On July 4th, 1776 the Second Continental Congress 
to remember?  approved the Declaration of Independence. 
 
This act broke all ties to the British Crown. The United 
States of America was Born. 

● All men are equal 

● We all have unalienable rights- not aliens 
● Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness 
● Governments are instituted by MEN- not G-d 
Declaration of
● The government is with the consent of the people 
Independence
● If any form of government is destructive, the 
people can abolish it and to institute a new 
government 
● To affect the safety of their happiness. 

● Jefferson built upon the writings of John Locke 

● Instead of “property” Jefferson listed “the pursuit 
of happiness” as one of the people's natural rights 
● Locke argued that fair governments 
Philosophy of 
○ Are based on the consent of the people 
Government 
○ Protect peoples “natural rights” to life, 
liberty and property 
○ Should be changed or replaced if they 
become unfair 

● Came before John Locke 

● Established the “social contract theory” that Locke 
accepted and revised 
Wait! What about  ● Believed that men have a natural instinct to be 
Thomas Hobbes  evil and man 
● Social Contract Theory considered the foundation 
for most Western political philosophy 
● Montesquieu and Rousseau 

● All men possess “certain unalienable rights.” 

● People are born with individual rights that cannot 
Key Points of the 
taken away from them 
Declaration of
● Life, (can’t kill) Liberty, (Can’t take your freedom) 
Independence
and the pursuit of happiness (unless it hurts 
someone else) 

 
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Ms. Nicoll History Unit 1 

● “To secure these rights, Governments are 

instituted among Men” 
● The job of the government is to protect these 
rights 
Key Points of the 
● “Whenever any form of Government becomes 
Declaration of
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the 
Independence 
People to alter or to abolish it” 
● If a government does not protect these rights but 
in fact weakens them, the government should be 
changed or removed. 

● Life Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness 

Jefferson argued  ○ The right to live 
for...  ○ The right to have freedom 
○ The right to pursue happiness 

● King George III had violated the colonists’ rights 

● List of over 25 violations 
Jefferson also  ● Jefferson charged the king with passing unfair 
argued that…   laws, interfering with colonial governments, 
unfair taxation, and taking over colonists houses 
for the British army 

● Social Contract 
● The colonies have a right to break away from 
Great Britain because they broke the social 
And, finally,  contract 
Jefferson argued  ● He thought they weren’t protecting the rights of 
for...  citizens 
● He said it was an obligation of the colonists to 
break away from King George III because he had 
broken the social contract. 
 

 
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