full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kenneth C. Davis: What you might not know about the Declaration of Independence

Unscramble the Blue Letters


"All men are created equal and they are endowed with the rights to life, liberty and the puisurt of hnpaipess." Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson! These wdors from the Declaration of Independence, and the facts behind them, are well known. In June of 1776, a little more than a year after the war against England began with the shots fired at Lexington and coocnrd, the Continental Congress was mnteeig in Philadelphia to discuss acemrain independence. After long debates, a resolution of independence was approved on July 2, 1776. America was free! And men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever. But it was two days later that the gnleetmen in Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence, largely written by tmhaos Jefferson, orifnfeg all the reasons why the country should be free. More than 235 years later, we celebrate that day as America's birthday. But there are some pieces of the story you may not know. First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for winritg the Declaration, but five men had been given the job to come up with a document explaining why aeirmca should be independent: Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were all named first. And it was Adams who suggested that the yonug, and little known, Thomas Jefferson join them because they nedeed a man from the influential Virginia Delegation, and Adams thought Jefferson was a much better writer than he was. Second, though Jefferson never used footnotes, or cridteed his sources, some of his memorable words and psahers were borrowed from other wetirrs and slightly tweaked. Then, Franklin and Adams offered a few suggestions. But the most important cganhe came after the Declaration was teunrd over to the full Congress. For two days, a very unhappy Thomas Jefferson sat and fumed while his words were picked over. In the end, the Congress made a few, mnior word changes, and one big deletion. In the long list of charges that Jefferson made against the King of England, the autohr of the Declaration had included the idea that George the Third was responsible for the slave trade, and was preventing America from ending slavery. That was not only untrue, but cnersgos wanted no mnteion of slavery in the nation's founding document. The reference was cut out before the Declaration was approved and sent to the pirentr. But it leaves open the hard question: How could the men, who were about to sign a document, cinelabetrg liberty and equality, accept a system in which some people oenwd others? It is a question that would eventually bring the nation to civil war and one we can still ask today.

Open Cloze


"All men are created equal and they are endowed with the rights to life, liberty and the _______ of _________." Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson! These _____ from the Declaration of Independence, and the facts behind them, are well known. In June of 1776, a little more than a year after the war against England began with the shots fired at Lexington and _______, the Continental Congress was _______ in Philadelphia to discuss ________ independence. After long debates, a resolution of independence was approved on July 2, 1776. America was free! And men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever. But it was two days later that the _________ in Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence, largely written by ______ Jefferson, ________ all the reasons why the country should be free. More than 235 years later, we celebrate that day as America's birthday. But there are some pieces of the story you may not know. First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for _______ the Declaration, but five men had been given the job to come up with a document explaining why _______ should be independent: Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were all named first. And it was Adams who suggested that the _____, and little known, Thomas Jefferson join them because they ______ a man from the influential Virginia Delegation, and Adams thought Jefferson was a much better writer than he was. Second, though Jefferson never used footnotes, or ________ his sources, some of his memorable words and _______ were borrowed from other _______ and slightly tweaked. Then, Franklin and Adams offered a few suggestions. But the most important ______ came after the Declaration was ______ over to the full Congress. For two days, a very unhappy Thomas Jefferson sat and fumed while his words were picked over. In the end, the Congress made a few, _____ word changes, and one big deletion. In the long list of charges that Jefferson made against the King of England, the ______ of the Declaration had included the idea that George the Third was responsible for the slave trade, and was preventing America from ending slavery. That was not only untrue, but ________ wanted no _______ of slavery in the nation's founding document. The reference was cut out before the Declaration was approved and sent to the _______. But it leaves open the hard question: How could the men, who were about to sign a document, ___________ liberty and equality, accept a system in which some people _____ others? It is a question that would eventually bring the nation to civil war and one we can still ask today.

Solution


  1. phrases
  2. young
  3. gentlemen
  4. needed
  5. concord
  6. pursuit
  7. happiness
  8. writers
  9. turned
  10. congress
  11. printer
  12. minor
  13. words
  14. writing
  15. america
  16. celebrating
  17. owned
  18. author
  19. change
  20. offering
  21. mention
  22. thomas
  23. american
  24. meeting
  25. credited

Original Text


"All men are created equal and they are endowed with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson! These words from the Declaration of Independence, and the facts behind them, are well known. In June of 1776, a little more than a year after the war against England began with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord, the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia to discuss American independence. After long debates, a resolution of independence was approved on July 2, 1776. America was free! And men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever. But it was two days later that the gentlemen in Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence, largely written by Thomas Jefferson, offering all the reasons why the country should be free. More than 235 years later, we celebrate that day as America's birthday. But there are some pieces of the story you may not know. First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for writing the Declaration, but five men had been given the job to come up with a document explaining why America should be independent: Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were all named first. And it was Adams who suggested that the young, and little known, Thomas Jefferson join them because they needed a man from the influential Virginia Delegation, and Adams thought Jefferson was a much better writer than he was. Second, though Jefferson never used footnotes, or credited his sources, some of his memorable words and phrases were borrowed from other writers and slightly tweaked. Then, Franklin and Adams offered a few suggestions. But the most important change came after the Declaration was turned over to the full Congress. For two days, a very unhappy Thomas Jefferson sat and fumed while his words were picked over. In the end, the Congress made a few, minor word changes, and one big deletion. In the long list of charges that Jefferson made against the King of England, the author of the Declaration had included the idea that George the Third was responsible for the slave trade, and was preventing America from ending slavery. That was not only untrue, but Congress wanted no mention of slavery in the nation's founding document. The reference was cut out before the Declaration was approved and sent to the printer. But it leaves open the hard question: How could the men, who were about to sign a document, celebrating liberty and equality, accept a system in which some people owned others? It is a question that would eventually bring the nation to civil war and one we can still ask today.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
thomas jefferson 3
john adams 2
adams thought 2


Important Words


  1. accept
  2. adams
  3. adopt
  4. america
  5. american
  6. approved
  7. author
  8. began
  9. benjamin
  10. big
  11. birthday
  12. borrowed
  13. bring
  14. celebrate
  15. celebrating
  16. change
  17. charges
  18. civil
  19. concord
  20. congress
  21. continental
  22. country
  23. created
  24. credit
  25. credited
  26. cut
  27. date
  28. day
  29. days
  30. debates
  31. declaration
  32. delegation
  33. deletion
  34. discuss
  35. document
  36. endowed
  37. england
  38. equal
  39. equality
  40. eventually
  41. explaining
  42. facts
  43. fast
  44. fired
  45. footnotes
  46. founding
  47. franklin
  48. free
  49. full
  50. fumed
  51. gentlemen
  52. george
  53. happiness
  54. hard
  55. idea
  56. important
  57. included
  58. independence
  59. influential
  60. jefferson
  61. job
  62. john
  63. join
  64. july
  65. june
  66. king
  67. largely
  68. leaves
  69. lexington
  70. liberty
  71. life
  72. list
  73. livingston
  74. long
  75. man
  76. meeting
  77. memorable
  78. men
  79. mention
  80. minor
  81. named
  82. nation
  83. needed
  84. offered
  85. offering
  86. open
  87. owned
  88. people
  89. philadelphia
  90. phrases
  91. picked
  92. pieces
  93. preventing
  94. printer
  95. pursuit
  96. question
  97. reasons
  98. reference
  99. resolution
  100. responsible
  101. rights
  102. robert
  103. roger
  104. sat
  105. sherman
  106. shots
  107. sign
  108. slave
  109. slavery
  110. slightly
  111. sources
  112. story
  113. suggested
  114. suggestions
  115. system
  116. thomas
  117. thought
  118. today
  119. trade
  120. turned
  121. tweaked
  122. unhappy
  123. untrue
  124. virginia
  125. voted
  126. wanted
  127. war
  128. word
  129. words
  130. writer
  131. writers
  132. writing
  133. written
  134. year
  135. years
  136. young