Exercise: “Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents"

Instructions: Navigate to the Library of Congress's online exhibition “Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents,” at the respective URL below. While viewing the exhibition, pay particular attention to the “Objects in the Collection” gallery; read the letters and analyze the visual images within this area. Then, answer the respective questions below.

Visit URL: “Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents”

Question 1:  From looking at Jefferson's rough drafts of the Declaration of Independence and comparing them to the final version of the document, what changes did Jefferson make in the text? What was removed from the original drafts as the document was finalized, and why? What does this process of revision tell us about the nature of the American revolutionary movement?

Question 2:  Examine both of the engravings representing the “Declaration Committee.” In what ways does the engraving from 1876 differ from the engraving contemporary to the drafting of the Declaration? What do these engravings tell you about the ways in which Americans of the time, and later generations, have imagined the events surrounding the drafting of the Declaration?

Question 3:  Of the portions of Jefferson's rough draft that were expunged from final copy, which ones would you have kept, and which ones would you have discarded, if given the choice? Explain your reasoning.

Question 4:  From the evidence, both textual and visual, in this exhibition, what can you tell about the public impact of the Declaration of Independence? What specific effects would reading this document for the first time have on both loyalists and rebels, do you think? In what ways are such “statements of principle” like the Declaration of Independence so important, politically and culturally, in times of great change and duress such as the Revolutionary War?