Declaration of Independence
Why Life Matters
The word ‘life’ is an important word. Life can mean different things to different people, depending on how you use the word. For example, life can refer to a lifetime, from a baby to a grandparent. The word ‘life’ can also be used as a way to show how someone lived. We call this a ‘way of life.’ And, life can describe the conditions of a living thing.
Colony Life
For a long time, the 13 colonies maintained their way of life as self-governing colonies, even though they were officially part of Britain. Self-governing describes a place that is run by its own people rather than people from another region or organization. But by 1775, tensions escalated between King George III and the American colonists. The king sent soldiers to take away the colonists’ weapons, sparking fights in Lexington and Concord. These battles kicked off the American Revolution. The American Revolution was a struggle by the American colonies against British rule, leading to the formation of the United States of America as an independent nation.
The Founders
In the summer of 1776, a committee of five men known as the Founders, including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, drafted a document declaring the colonies’ independence from Britain and outlining the reasons for this decision. This document, known as the Declaration of Independence, declared America’s independence from Britain.
The Founders are the individuals who played key roles in establishing the United States of America. One prominent Founder was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson took the lead in writing the Declaration of Independence.
