Declaration of Independence Journal

In class today we viewed a short video of the history of the Declaration of Independence and read a "translation" of the original language into modern street corner English. Finally, we looked at the format of the main sections in the orginal full text.

Choose two of the following four prompts to complete by Friday, 10/10. (Most of you began one of these topics already in class).

You should write for another 20 minutes at least. As we reviewed, the point of the reflective journal is not to simply answer a question but to put your best critical thinking, questions, and feelings about the prompt as fully as possible with support and/ or examples from class learning and reading as possible.

1) How is the Declaration organized? Describe what the main sections are with your own phrasing. Why is it organized in this way? What did the authors wish to accomplish in this format?

2) Which parts or phrases of the DI that we read so far seem most important to you? Why are these the most important so far?

3) Which parts do you think should be changed or updated? Why should this/these be revised?

4)If you were to create your own DI, which main sections and points would you include? Would you describe certain "fundamental" basic truths or rights? If so, which ones and why would you declare these?