Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts The Declaration of Independence: An FPRI Primer

The Declaration of Independence: An FPRI Primer

In this FPRI Primer, Ron Granieri explores the Declaration of Independence, and places it in its larger historical and geopolitical context.

Video:

 

Essay:

Declaration of Independence Primer

The Declaration of Independence: An FPRI Primer

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation….”

So begins one of the most famous documents in world history, the American Declaration of Independence. Drafted by a committee that included Thomas Jefferson as the primary author as well as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the Declaration was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in the summer of 1776, signed first by John Hancock, the President of the Congress, and eventually by 55 of his colleagues as well…Read More

 

Lesson Plan:

Declaration of Independence Primer

The Declaration of Independence: An FPRI Primer