Declaration of Independence Quizzes
Think you’ve got your head wrapped around Declaration of Independence? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. Upon whose philosophical writings is the political ideology of the Declaration of Independence heavily based?
John Locke
Benjamin Franklin
Oscar Wilde
Rene Descartes
Q. Which quote from the Declaration represents the most revolutionary political idea for the time period?
"All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
"Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."
"A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
"He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people."
Q. How would you sum up the reason for the colonies declaring independence, according to the Declaration of Independence?
Government is meant to protect the welfare of the people, and the British government has not neglected the people in the colonies, but abused them.
The colonies have existed for a long time essentially governing themselves, so the British have no right to try and interfere with colonial affairs.
The colonies will be economically and militarily stronger as an independent nation than under British rule.
We have never liked tea; we only drink it because we're British, and we can't stand it anymore.
Q. Which quote explains why that the Declaration spends so much time explaining the reasons the colonies are separating?
"…a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
"…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."
"I fought the law, and the law won."
Q. Which other Founding Father wrote about his own, similar philosophy regarding the people's right to dismantle faulty governments, long before Jefferson included his version in the Declaration of Independence?
Samuel Adams
John Adams
John Hancock
William Shakespeare