Declaring+Independence

=Declaring Independence=

Following the events at Lexington and Bunker Hill, colonial leaders decided that the time had come to formally declare themselves as, "free and independent states" of Great Britain. Strongly influenced by the ideas the Enlightenment and Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson would go on to pen one of the most important documents to the history of free people in the world. Contained within the Declaration of Independence are the reasons and evidence that justify the the right of American colonists to overthrow Great Britain's rule and to replace it with one of their own. Other oppressed groups and nations all throughout the world will in the future use the ideas presented in the Declaration of Independence to secure their own rights and freedoms.

**Objectives**

 * Examine the creation of the Declaration of Independence and how its principles justified American independence from Great Britain.
 * Understand the contradictions between the Declaration of Independence and the rights and freedoms given to women, Native Americans, and slaves.

=Class Research & Assignments=
 * Activity-The Declaration of Independence
 * Immersion-the America Revolution (Part 2) Independence