Declaring Independence

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there’s not one way of doing it and it’s important to remember the context of which the work was created so historians are able to understand what factors influenced it to be written.

Place the document in context of contemporary events. What was Jefferson thinking about on the eve of his authorship of the Declaration?

There’s a lot of misleading information based from the Declaration of Independence, what’s documented is not always right -- it was signed on August 2nd not July 4th, a lot of correcting was put into the draft (practically rewrote Jefferson’s work), writers never met up to work on it despite Trumbull’s painting might have shown.

a. When deciphering a document: ask the most basic questions with no bias or expectations, approach the work as an uncritical reader and ask questions on how it’s organized.

b. The significance of the document depends on the circumstances under which the work was created. Historians have to think outside the box, look beyond what the authors said and try to understand what the authors were not trying to say.

Stamp act vs. Declaration provided information about the time period because the Stamp act explains the colony’s political stance - their subject to the king and the parliament. It shows their aims to become independent from the parliament, although they point fingers at the parliament - the king was the real power holder.

The document may be understood by seeking to reconstruct the intellectual worlds behind its words - different social context behind phrases from different time periods, for example: “holiday and Christmas” - “1950s vs. 1990s”

Pursuit of happiness = science of government, person’s actions judged on how much happiness he brought people.

Jefferson rarely mentioned large topics during the era in the Declaration, for example he eliminated large context of slavery in the final draft saying it was a tough topic, “less said the better”

Saying less is not the same as saying nothing, the evidence about slavery and slaves served as a large part in the revolution. (Slaves made the first moves, they offered to fight)

Joining the British, stressing, and angering colonists to take part in the revolution against kings.

Jefferson’s words contributed to the downfall of slavery.