The Declaration of Independence: its parts, its ideas and its complaints

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   all men are created equal

   1775 to 1776. Card A, the Declaration (July 4, 1776; a public document from Congress): "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Card B, a private letter (March 31, 1776; Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams, who was in Congress in Philadelphia; spelling modernized): "I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could." Card C, a private letter (April 14, 1776; John Adams to Abigail Adams): "As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh." Card D, a pamphlet (1775; Samuel Johnson, a British writer who opposed the colonists' claims, writing to persuade British readers): "… how is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?"

2. 1.

   Card B is a private letter and card A is a public document. What can card B show that card A cannot, Ari asks?

   • What Congress officially decided about the rights of women
   • What one woman privately thought about who was left out
   • What women across the colonies wanted from the new nation
   • What the king would answer to the colonists' charges
3. 2.

   What point is Samuel Johnson making in card D, Esme asks?

   • Merchants demand liberty more loudly than anyone else does
   • Enslaved people are the loudest voices now demanding liberty
   • People loudly claiming liberty are holding others in slavery
   • Slavery is a disease that Britain sent over to the colonies
4. 3.

   Cards B and D come from opposite sides of the Atlantic. What do they have in common, Kira asks?

   • Both defend the wording of the Declaration's most famous sentence
   • Both give the exact date on which independence was declared
   • Both point to a group that the words 'all men' left out
   • Both were written by members of the Congress in Philadelphia
5. 4.

   Cards A and D disagree about the colonists' claim to liberty. Why, Luz asks?

   • A colonist wrote card D and a Briton wrote card A
   • Card A is a neutral report and card D is an opinion
   • Card A states the colonists' case and card D attacks it
   • One was written after the war ended and one before it began

6. Source A, the Declaration (1776; capitals and punctuation modernized; cuts marked)

   "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: … For imposing taxes on us without our consent: … He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures." Also: "He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good." Also: "For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury." Source B, a timeline in our words from the Massachusetts Historical Society and the National Archives: 1765 and 1767: Parliament passes taxes on the colonies, including the Stamp Act and the Townshend duties. October 1768: British troops arrive in Boston in a time of peace. 1774: Parliament passes laws that put Massachusetts under tighter British control. Colonial leaders argue that Parliament has no right to tax them, because they elect no members to it, and that their tie is to the king alone.

7. 5.

   The taxes in source B were passed by Parliament, yet source A says 'He.' What best explains that choice, Milo asks?

   • The writers wanted to blame Parliament but ran out of room
   • Parliament had no part in any of the laws the colonists disliked
   • The king personally voted on each tax that Parliament passed
   • Leaders denied Parliament's authority and so blamed the king
8. 6.

   Source A says taxes were imposed 'without our consent.' Which colonial argument in source B does that echo, Noah asks?

   • Colonists agreed to each tax simply by trading with Britain
   • Armies should be kept in towns during peacetime alone
   • People who elect no members to Parliament should not be taxed
   • The king's permission was enough to make any tax fair
9. 7.

   British troops came to Boston in a time of peace in 1768. Which Declaration line responds to that, Pia asks?

   • 'For imposing taxes on us without our consent.'
   • 'For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury.'
   • 'He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.'
   • 'He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.'
10. 8.

    Which statement about the Declaration's complaints is best supported by sources A and B, Ren asks?

    • The list establishes that the king broke the law in each case
    • Each complaint in the list matches a single event in 1774
    • The complaints began after the Declaration was approved
    • Several match events protested for years before 1776
11. 9.

    How do sources A and B suggest the colonists' main demand changed between 1765 and 1776, Tala asks?

    • From asking for independence in 1765 to avoid the later war
    • From demanding independence to accepting the taxes in the end
    • From blaming the king to blaming Parliament alone instead
    • From protesting Parliament's taxes to ending the king's rule
12. 10.

    Source A was written in 1776 and source B long after. What job is each best for, Zee asks?

    • A alone is useful, since B was not written at the time
    • B shows that each complaint in A was fair to the king
    • A is the source for checking dates; B shows how Congress argued
    • A shows how Congress argued; B helps check dates and events