Period 3: 1754-1800
Road to Independence Primary Documents Assignment
Directions: Read Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson (pages 60-64 of the actual text, look at the page numbers at the bottom of the page). On a piece of paper answer the questions below in a sentence or two a piece:
1. Why, according to this Declaration, are the colonists taking up arms?
2. What are “the causes,” and what is “the necessity” of their doing so?
3. Have they offered a compelling justification? What, according to this Declaration, is the goal of the colonists?
4. In the name of what, and for what purpose, are they resisting?
5. Would you have signed this Declaration?
6. Would you also have signed the Olive Branch Petition?
7. Can one, in good conscience, prepare for war even as one petitions for peace?
8. Can one, in good conscience, not prepare for war under these circumstances?
1. Why, according to this Declaration, are the colonists taking up arms?
2. What are “the causes,” and what is “the necessity” of their doing so?
3. Have they offered a compelling justification? What, according to this Declaration, is the goal of the colonists?
4. In the name of what, and for what purpose, are they resisting?
5. Would you have signed this Declaration?
6. Would you also have signed the Olive Branch Petition?
7. Can one, in good conscience, prepare for war even as one petitions for peace?
8. Can one, in good conscience, not prepare for war under these circumstances?
