Essential and guiding questions:
- Relationship Among Ideas: Identify and explain any opposing claims Jefferson anticipates. What counterarguments does he offer? How do these relate to his overall argument?
- Author’s Methods: What is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
- Author’s Methods: What claim does Jefferson make in the first paragraph of the Declaration, and what support does he say he will provide? Does he then provide adequate support?
- Author’s Methods: What claims does Jefferson make about governments? How do these claims impact his argument?
- Author’s Methods: What is the effect of Jefferson’s use of the word “duty” in the second paragraph?
- Author’s Methods: What is the persuasive effect of his language in the closing paragraphs?
- Drawing an Inference: Can we infer anything about Jefferson’s intended audience based on his diction?
- Structure: Looking back over the entire text, what is distinctive about the structure of Jefferson’s argument? How does the structure contribute to the impact of the argument?
