The Declaration of Independence is a revolutionary document. Its function was to announce to the world that the war in progress in North America was revolutionary in aim. And during the centuries that followed, it has proven to be a statement that has changed the world as people have tried to live up to it.

In this book, Michael shows just how revolutionary the concepts of the Declaration were by relating them to the ideas of the Enlightenment. He then focuses on the language that Jefferson used to announce the revolution. He contrasts the extraordinary dignified tone of the Declaration with other more inflammatory language used in the Revolutionary War, and he shows precisely how Jefferson used vocabulary and grammar to achieve the ends he sought.

On July 4, 1776, King George III wrote in his diary, “Nothing of importance happened today.” He was wrong about that, but it was not simply by chance that he was wrong about it. A great deal of thought and effort went into making him wrong about it. In this book, Michael shows students the brilliance of Jefferson’s execution of Congress’s charge to write the Declaration of Independence.

This book has an accompanying teacher manual. (See below.)