Take another look at these passages from Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration[Excerpt 1] We hold these

truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness….

[Excerpt 2] he [the English king, George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another. in every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered by repeated injury. a prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a people who mean to be free. future ages will scarce believe that the hardiness of one man, adventured within the short compass of 12 years only, on so many acts of tyranny without a mask, over a people fostered & fixed in principles of liberty….

After reading the document passage above, write a paragraph in the box below in which you consider how events in the American Revolution fit into the racial pattern that you have identified in the first two paragraphs that you have written for this weekly capstone project.

Follow these guidelines:

1. Your first sentence should either argue that the Revolution continued the pattern of race established earlier in the colonial period OR should argue that the Revolution marked a turning point in the history of race in America.

2. Your next two or three sentences should explore the specific language and ideas in the first excerpt above to advance the argument you expressed in the first sentence of the paragraph.

3. In another two or three sentences, explore the language and ideas in the second excerpt above and tie them into your analysis. Weave at least one brief direct quote (that you should place inside quotation marks) from the relevant passage into one of your sentences.

5. Your paragraph should be at least 250 words!!! And it should be no longer than 600 words. You will have a chance to review and edit all of your responses before submitting them for a final grade on the assignment.

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