Colonial Influence on Founding Documents

Prompt

For this assignment, you will review key philosophical movements and events of the Colonial Period in the United States and explain how they influenced the creation of the Declaration of Independence. You will utilize your critical thinking skills to analyze how ideas from this period helped shape the values and arguments found in this founding document.

Write a 1,000-1,250 word primary source analysis explaining how the Mayflower Compact, the American Enlightenment, and the First Great Awakening helped to set the stage for the Declaration of Independence. In your writing, be sure to provide specific examples and cite evidence from relevant primary sources.

Be sure to answer to following questions with supporting evidence in your essay:

• What core ideas from the American Enlightenment, First Great Awakening, and Mayflower Compact are in the Declaration of Independence?
• How did these ideas challenge the authority of the British Empire and/or traditional monarchy?
• In your view, which of these colonial influences had the greatest impact on the Declaration, and why?
• Which of ideas from this period remain the most relevant in today’s political climate? Briefly reflect on how they connect to a current event or debate that has personal relevance to your life.

Formatting & Sources

Please write your paper in the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) format. You may refer to the course material for supporting evidence, but you must also use at least two primary and three secondary external sources and cite them using CMS format. If you use any Study.com lessons as sources, please also cite them in CMS (including the lesson title and instructor’s name).

• Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews, advertisements, speeches, company documents, statements, and press releases published by the company in question.
• Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals, such as the Journal of American History. You may use sources like JSTOR, Google Scholar, and Open Research Library to find articles from these journals. Secondary sources may also come from reputable websites with .gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not a reputable source, though the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)