WorksheetsCivics - Declaration of independence
Total questions: 33
Worksheet time: 18mins
What was the date the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence?
July 4,1776
August 2, 1776
April 18, 1776
December 16, 1773
Thomas Jefferson borrowed many of his ideas from which Enlightenment Philosopher?
John Locke
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Paine
John Adams
According to the Declaration of Independence who institutes or creates governments?
The King
The People
The Pope
The President
According to the Declaration of Independence, where does government get its power from?
The King
Religion
The People
The President
From the Declaration of Independence, what can a reader infer about Jefferson's general attitude toward revolution?
Revolution is a method of last resort.
All cases of injustice justify a revolution.
People often revolt as their first course of action.
Revolution is a very poor way of dealing with conflict.
According to the Declaration of Independence, which of the following statements are among the reasons the colonies determined to break away from British rule? Choose three options.
The majority of Americans were not ethnically or culturally British.
Britain was guilty of many recent abuses of its power in the colonies.
The American and British armies had already clashed on the battlefield.
Britain interfered with the operation of the legislatures in the various colonies.
The British was too weak and undisciplined to effectively protect the colonies.
Which person is the best example of someone who demonstrates tyranny?
a rebel
a dictator
a member
a challenger
Which quotation from the Declaration of Independence best supports the main purpose of a nation's government.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all mean are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...
...[To] secure these rights , governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...
...[G}overnments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath show, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable,than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
...[A]s free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.
Which of the following is the central idea put forth in the Declaration of Independence?
The American people will fight to the death to protect themselves from attacks by Britain.
The American colonies are justified in rejecting British rule and setting up a new government.
The people of Great Britain should claim their own independence from the rule of the current king.
Americans who support the idea of independence from Great Britain greatly outnumber those who do not.
Alter, or abolish it
Why was the Declaration of Independence written?
to start the American Revolution
to offer a peace settlement to Great Britain
to instruct how a country wins it freedom
to explain why the colonies were separating from Great Britain
Why did Thomas Jefferson say the King George III was an unfit ruler?
He was not born in Great Britain
He denied the colonists their rights
He was not elected by Parliament
He lived far away from the colonies
How do natural rights, as described in the Declaration of Independence, differ from other rights?
People are born with natural rights
people can vote to choose natural rights
natural rights are given only to citizens
Natural Rights come from the government
To Great Britain, the signing of the Declaration of Independence was
an act of loyalty
an act of treason
an act of bravery
an act of insanity
Who was NOT a member of the Committee of Five?
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
George Washington
Benjamin Franklin
Which of the following statements is true about what was included in the Declaration of Independence?
The Bill of Rights
A list of bad things that the King of England had done to the colonies
a list of the three branches of government
That the first president of the United States was George Washinton
Who was the first to sign the document with a big signature nearly five inches long?
John Hancock
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Franklin
Samuel Adams
Which of the following statements is a famous quote from the Declaration of Independence?
FIRST, We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed...
We the people of the United Sates, in order to form a more perfect union...
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation...
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal
What are the three rights that Thomas Jefferson says all men are born with?
Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness
peace, love, harmony
life, love freedom of religion
voting, taxes, and having a job
What is another word for grievance?
happiness
complaint
abolish
inalienable
Which of the following is an example of a grievance?
A letter to our city complaining about potholes in your street
a newspaper editorial that endorses a particular candidate for President
a proclamation by the government that July 4th will be celebrated as Independence Day
A news article about the formation of a new, independent nation
The introduction to the Declaration of Independence that explains why is was written
grievances
resolution
Natural Rights
Preamble
What are unalienable rights?
Rights that government cannot take away
Rights that government takes away
rights for aliens
Government is needed to promote equality
What radical new idea did the Declaration of Independence contain?
Democracy is the best form of gov't
A King's power should be limited
Consent of the governed should be recognized.
All people are created equal
Why did King George III impose heavy taxes on American colonists?
To show off his power
To pay war debt
To punish the colonists
To afford a new castle
How did colonists protest Great Britain?
Refusing to obey laws
Destroying government property
Forcing officials to quit
All of the above (all options).
What did the signers of the Declaration of Independence swear to each other?
their lives
their fortunes
their sacred Honor
all of these
Whose proposal, "that these colonies ought to be free and independent states" was incorporated into the text of the Declaration of Independence?"
John Witherspoon
Richard Henry Lee
Benjamin Franklin
John Hewes
