Studies Weekly: Week 21-The Signing of the Declaration

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

• John Adams

• Benjamin Franklin

• Thomas Jefferson

• John Hancock

Answer explanation

While several people helped to edit and revise the draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson is given credit for writing it.

Which of Thomas Jefferson's ideas below were written into the Declaration of Independence? HINT: There's more than one!

• The colonists would stay subjects of the King, if he gave them certain rights.

• Governments should get their power from the people.

• The Colonies should be free and independent states.

• The colonists would stay subjects of the King, if he gave them voting rights.

TRUE OR FALSE:

There are three sections of the Declaration of Indepence:

Part 1: Complaints of the colonies.

Part 2: Introduction, also called the "Preamble".

Part 3: Reasons why the King should not rule the colonies.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Answer explanation

Part 1: Introduction, also called the "Preamble".

Part 2: Complaints of the colonies.

Part 3: Reasons why the King should not rule the colonies.

Why might someone say, "Put your 'John Hancock' right here," as a way to ask a person to sign their name?

• He wrote the Declaration of Independence.

• He wrote his name bigger than everyone else.

• He had such neat cursive writing.

Which of these would you find in the second section of the Declaration of Independence?

• Reasons why slavery should be abolished.

• Ways in which King George violated the colonists' rights.

• The Preamble of the Constitution.

• The military advantage that the Colonies has over Britain.

If the writers of the Declaration were going to talk about women's rights, in which section would it have been appropriate to put it?

• First section

• Second section

• Third section

• All sections

Answer explanation

The second section lists all the complaints that the colonists had. The complaints were about all their rights that the King had ignored.

What was one of the greatest topics of debate (or argument) among the representatives as they were drafting the Declaration?

• including the topic of slavery

• the location of the capital

• the length of the document

• who would sign first

Which word below means "a plan of action to reach a specific goal"?

• proclamation

• treaty

• symbol

• strategy

Which word below means "the idea that equality and liberty are basic human rights"?

• enlightenment

• philosophy

• intellectual movement

• reasoning