Title:
The Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence
Grade Level(s): Grades 9-12 US History, Economics,
AP Government
Description:
This activity utilizes 30 primary source
documents to investigate five of the US Founding Fathers,
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin,
James Madison and Patrick Henry. Represented within
each of the Founding Fathers documents are primary
source materials to represent five components of the
Declaration of Independence, grievances against the
king, religion, slavery, natural/inalienable rights
and self-evident truths. Students will select one
primary source document and group themselves first
according to the color of the heart sticker found
on the document (red, green, blue, purple, or pink).
These groups will correspond with one of the Founding
Fathers. Students should read any transcripts found
accompanying primary source documents and notes to
fully explore the source. Questions pertaining to
George Washington are included to aid in evaluating
the resources. Students will reshuffle themselves
according to the star sticker found on the document
(red, blue, yellow, purple or green). This grouping
corresponds to the five components of the Declaration
of Independence. Discussion can be directed utilizing
the questions pertaining to religion, slavery or the
document “Questioning for Understanding”
which is broader in scope and applies to most of the
documents in the activity.
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