Teacher Guide Parent Guie LIBRARY Text Paired Texts Related Media (1) I am not jealous. Not at all..

Teacher Guide Parent Guie LIBRARY Text Paired Texts Related Media (1) I am not jealous. Not at all. America can do what it likes. They are more than welcome to start their own country They can turn their backs on Great Britain, spit on the king, and leave behind the very country that made them. Mark my words. This country called America will not work. Even if they have written this very popular… Declaration of Independence. Have you heard of the man who wrote this document? Thomas Jefferson 3 is the man that wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. He’s also its youngest

»Teacher Guide Parent Guie LIBRARY Text Paired Texts Related Media (1) I am not jealous. Not at all. America can do what it likes. They are more than welcome to start their own country They can turn their backs on Great Britain, spit on the king, and leave behind the very country that made them. Mark my words. This country called America will not work. Even if they have written this very popular… Declaration of Independence. Have you heard of the man who wrote this document? Thomas Jefferson 3 is the man that wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. He’s also its youngest writer. Some people are so spoiled. Great Britain has given that country everything. It shipped them across the sea, paid for everything to be set up, and now all the king wants is to be paid through taxes. Yet this young man, Mr. Jefferson, says that they owe us nothing! Tell me, if one of your employees started a “King George Ill of England” by Johann Zoffany is in the business across the river that did not pay your business public domain any heed, 4 would you feel fine about it? Well, I would not! They say he will be the leader of America some day. They call them presidents and they change them by voting! Ha! No way will that last. [5] How can a country last with such poor ideas? I mean, have you heard the opening of this piece of writing? The preamble is the opener to the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self evident’ 5 … blah blah. that we do not want to be a part of your country from this time on. That first idea though, that all men have the same rights? The words have never been written down … and for good reason! Mr. Jefferson has some very funny ideas. The new American government will go by Natural Law, which basically says that all men have equal rights! 6 They all get a say in how their country is run! No more king? How will the people know what to do? Who will make sure that everyone has enough work? Yes, I know that our king can get greedy sometimes, overtaxing us and using it for his own wealth… but the idea that a country can work without a king is laughable! These Americans are behaving just like little children. King George III gave them everything and they want to give nothing back. Theirs is a country built on a grievance, the belief that they’ve been wronged in some way. Is paying taxes to the country that helped you get started wrong? Is honoring your king, who rules by God’s decree over our country, wrong? If that’s the truth, then I’m wrong! I guess there will never be a place for minds like mine in this country called America! People in America believe that the Declaration of Independence is a great piece of writing. They say this Thomas Jefferson has a way with words and he showed it by writing something that called America a free country. The preamble tells all other countries that they are their own government now and want us to accept it. It also says that “all men are created equal” which means they govern by Natural Law and so should be able to make choices about their own country. What? Of course I have not read the Declaration of Independence. It’s nothing more than a grievance against King George III, who has been wronged. He is the one who paid for their country in the first place! Yes, I am happy to stay here in England. The great American test will not work. You will see. Follow the link at the bottom to a satire in Common Lit. Read it. Then answer these questions in the text box below. 1) Summarize the text in 3-4 sentences. 2) How does the narrator feel about Thomas Jefferson? 3) What line from the text is evidence of your answer in question 2? THE DECLARATION OF AMERICA’S IMMENSE OFFENSE

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