Jenn DiBiasi, Mike Piancone and Steve O’Hara
James Madison Seminar
DBQ Activity
Summer 2011
Question One:
Search through the following evidence (documents, political cartoons and video clips) to find any influences (language, ideas, concepts) leading to declaring independence. If you were a colonist, would these persuade you to cut your ties with your mother country?
Name ______
Date ______
Class _____
Evidence 1
A Discourse concerning Unlimited Submission and
Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers: with Some Reflections on the resistance Made to King Charles I
Jonathan Mayhew 1750
Quick Biography
Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1776) was a leading New England clergyman who served at West Church in Boston from 1747 to his death. He was famous, in part, for this 1750 sermon, in which he espouses the cause of liberty and the right and duty to resist tyranny. In 1818, Founding Father John Adams identified Mayhew and this sermon as having "great influence in the commencement of the Revolution."
…If it be our duty, for example, to obey our king, merely for this reason, that he rules for the public welfare, (which is the only argument the apostle makes use of) it follows, by a parity of reason, that when he turns tyrant, and makes his subjects his prey to devour and to destroy, instead of his charge to defend and cherish, we are bound to throw off our allegiance to him, and to resist;
…Not to discontinue our allegiance, in this case, would be to join with the sovereign in promoting the slavery and misery of that society, the welfare of which, we ourselves, as well as our sovereign, are indispensably obliged to secure and promote, as far as in us lies.
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Vocabulary- Please define the following terms.
Duty-______
______
Welfare-______
______
Parity-______
______
Tyrant-______
______
Prey-______
______
Devour-______
______
Allegiance-______
______
Sovereign-______
______
Indispensably-______
______
Secure-______
______
Questions:
1) Do you believe that a ruler should rule for the public welfare (defend and cherish)? Why or why not?
2) Do you agree that “to discontinue our allegiance, in this case, would be to join with the sovereign in promoting the slavery and misery of that society.”
Your Life:
1) Should a friend be a person that is a benefit to your welfare? Explain.
2) What do you do when the friend “makes his (or her) subjects his prey to devour and to destroy”?
Name ______
Date ______
Class _____
Evidence 2- Virtual Representation Political Cartoon
(8)
(2) (1) (4) (5) (6) (9)
(3) (7)
(10)
Print shows Lord Bute (1) aiming a blunderbuss at a man representing colonial America (5) and his son (6); a member of Parliament (4), pointing at the American, tells Bute "I give you that man's money for my use", to which the American responds by saying, "I will not be robbed". On the right, blindfolded, Britannia (7) is about to stumble into "The pit prepared for others" (10) while behind her, in the background, "The English Protestant town of Boston" (9) is in flames. On the left kneels a monk (3) holding a gibbet and a cross, behind him stands a Frenchman (2) with sword raised; perched on a cliff and forming the backdrop to Bute, the monk, and the Frenchman, is the city of Québec (8).
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Questions:
1) Look at the American figures (5 and 6). What do you believe is the symbolism of adding these to this cartoon?
2) Interpret the “pit prepared for others.”
3) What is the purpose of the Frenchman (2) with his sword raised?
Name ______
Date ______
Class _____
Evidence 3
Poor Old England Endeavoring to Reclaim His Wicked American Children
This scene represents the efforts by the king and his authority to harness and control the colonists who show no signs of either respecting or submitting to the wishes of the king.
Questions
1) Write a two sentence interpretative description of this cartoon.
2) Provide an analysis of each side (be sure to include their behavior).
3) Why do you believe the figure holding the crop is represented as older and elderly?
4) If you were an American colonist, would this offend you? Why or why not?
5) If you were a resident of Great Britain, would this offend you? Why or why not?
6) How is this an analogy between the colonies and England?
Name ______
Date ______
Class ____
Evidence 4- Too Late to Apologize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfRaWAtBVg
Halfway across the globe
And we're standing on new ground
Screaming 'cross the waves
You can't hear a sound
There's no fair trials, no trade, no liberties
No tea
We've colonized America; we won't stand for tyranny,
Oh king
And it's too late to apologize
It's too late
I said it's too late to apologize
It's too late
We've paid your foolish tax, read the acts
And they just won't do
We want to make it clear, we believe this much is true
All men were created with certain
Unalienable rights
Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
Of happiness
And it's too late to apologize
It's too late
I said It's too late to apologize
It's too late
It's too late to apologize
It's too late
I said it's too late apologize
It's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, yeah
It's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, yeah
Halfway across the globe
And we're standing on new ground
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Questions:
1) What is the main chorus of the song?
2) Do you agree with the main chorus? Explain why or why not (cite specific examples from the song).
3) In your opinion, could Great Britain also create a song with the same chorus? Explain why or why not. (If yes, cite specific examples as to topics/events they may incorporate into their song.)
Jenn DiBiasi, Mike Piancone and Steve O’Hara
James Madison Seminar
DBQ Activity
Summer 2011
Question Two:
Highlight (with four different colors) and explain the influences utilized by Thomas Jefferson and the other founders that helped shape the evolution of ideas into the Declaration of Independence.
Name ______
Date ______
Class ____
1. John Locke's Second Treatise on Government, Section 225, 1690, in this excerpt, Locke explains under what circumstances the people have the right to alter their form of government.
Secondly: I answer, such revolutions happen not upon every little mismanagement in public affairs. Great mistakes in the ruling part, many wrong and inconvenient laws, and all the slips of human frailty will be borne by the people without mutiny or murmur. But if a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what they lie under, …it is not to be wondered that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavour to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the ends for which government was at first erected, and …ancient names... are much worse than the state of Nature or pure anarchy…
Vocabulary
Frailty-
Abuses-
Prevarications-
Artifices-
Mutiny-
Rouse-
Endeavour (check the spelling first!!!!)-
Anarchy-
Questions:
1) What is/are the main theme(s) that Locke is attempting to conclude?
2) Highlight the areas from this document that you found in the Declaration of Independence with green. Be sure to mark both sources.
Name ______
Date ______
Class ____
2. Massachusetts Slave Petition, May 27, 1774, Founder's Constitution, in this slave petition to the governing bodies of Massachusetts, the natural rights argument is made boldly by a people denied ANY rights at that time. (you should focus on arguments at the beginning and end of the petition.)
The Petition of a Grate Number of Blackes of this Province who by divine permission are held in a state of Slavery within the bowels of a free and christian Country Humbly Shewing That your Petitioners apprehind we have in common with all other men a naturel right to our freedoms without Being depriv'd of them by our fellow men as we are a freeborn Pepel and have never forfeited this Blessing by aney compact or agreement whatever. But we were unjustly dragged by the cruel hand of power from our dearest frinds and sum of us stolen from the bosoms of our tender Parents and from a Populous Pleasant and plentiful country and Brought hither to be made slaves for Life in a Christian land. Thus are we deprived of every thing that hath a tendency to make life even tolerable, the endearing ties of husband and wife we are strangers to for we are no longer man and wife then our masters or mestreses thinkes proper marred or onmarred. Our children are also taken from us by force and sent maney miles from us wear we seldom or ever see them again there to be made slaves of for Life which sumtimes is vere short by Reson of Being dragged from their mothers Breest …We therefor Bage your Excellency and Honours will give this its deu weight and consideration and that you will accordingly cause an act of the legislative to be pessed that we may obtain our Natural right our freedoms and our children be set at lebety at the yeare of Twenty one for whoues sekes more petequeley your Petitioners is in Duty ever to Pray.
Vocabulary
(You choose the words that you were unsure of!)
Questions
1) What is/are the main theme(s) that this document is attempting to conclude?
2) Highlight the areas from this document that you found in the Declaration of Independence with yellow. Be sure to mark both sources.
3. George Mason and the Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 12, 1776. This document was passed a little more than three weeks before the Declaration of Independence and was adopted by the Continental Congress. (You should focus on the first three clauses of this Declaration of Rights to see how it resembles the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence).
Virginia Declaration of Rights
I. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
II. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.
III. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; of all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that, whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable,unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.
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VOCABULARY- Please define the following terms.
Inherent-______
______
Compact-______
______
Divest-______
______
Posterity-______
______
Magistrates-______
______
Amenable-______
______
Maladministration-______
______
Indubitable-______
______
Unalienable-______
______
Questions:
1) Create interpretative statements for Clauses 1, 2 & 3.
Clause 1- ______
Clause 2- ______
Clause 3- ______
2) Identify the main theme of each clause.
Clause 1- ______
Clause 2- ______
Clause 3- ______
3) What are natural rights, and according to the author by whom are they given?
4) Can you identify or provide examples of additional natural rights?
5) How do the magistrates (government) obtain power from the people?
6) According to the Virginia Declaration of Rights what is the primary role or function of government?
7) If a governmental system were to become corrupt, what right does the document provide for? * By what means could this be accomplished?
4. Instructions from the Town of Malden, Massachusetts, for a Declaration of Independence May 27, 1776 (At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Malden, (Mass.), May 27, 1776, it was voted unanimously that the following instructions be given to their representative, viz. to Mr. Ezra Sargeant.)
Sir, A resolution of the hon. house of representatives, calling upon the several towns in this colony to express their minds in respect to the important question of American independence, is the occasion of our now instructing you. The time was, sir, when we loved the king and the people of Great Britain with an affection truly filial; we felt ourselves interested in their glory; we shared in their joys and sorrows; we cheerfully poured the fruit of all our labours into the lap of our mother country, and without reluctance expended our blood and our treasure in their cause.
These were our sentiments toward Great Britain while she continued to act the part of a parent state; we felt ourselves happy in our connection with her, nor wished it to be dissolved; but our sentiments are altered, it is now the ardent wish of our soul that America may become a free and independent state.
A sense of unprovoked injuries will arouse the resentment of the most peaceful. Such injuries these colonies have received from Britain. Unjustifiable claims have been made by the king and his minions to tax us without our consent; these claims have been prosecuted in a manner cruel and unjust to the highest degree. The frantic policy of administration hath induced them to send fleets and armies to America; that, by depriving us of our trade, and cutting the throats of our brethren, they might awe us into submission, and erect a system of despotism in America, which should so far enlarge the influence of the crown as to enable it to rivet their shackles upon the people of Great Britain.
This plan was brought to a crisis upon the ever memorable nineteenth of April. We remember the fatal day! the expiring groans of our countrymen yet vibrate on our ears! and we now behold the flames of their peaceful dwellings ascending to Heaven! we hear their blood crying to us from the ground for vengeance! charging us, as we value the peace of their names, to have no further connection with, who can unfeelingly hear of the slaughter of, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. The manner in which the war has been prosecuted hath confirmed us in these sentiments; piracy and murder, robbery and breach of faith, have been conspicuous in the conduct of the king’s troops: defenceless towns have been attacked and destroyed: the ruins of Charlestown, which are daily in our view, daily reminds us of this: the cries of the widow and the orphan demand our attention; they demand that the hand of pity should wipe the tear from their eye, and that the sword of their country should avenge their wrongs. We long entertained hope that the spirit of the British nation would once more induce them to assert their own and our rights, and bring to condign punishment the elevated villains who have trampled upon the sacred rights of men and affronted the majesty of the people. We hoped in vain; they have lost their spirit of just resentment; we therefore renounce with disdain our connexion with a kingdom of slaves; we bid a final adieu to Britain.