Analyze the Declaration of Independence (July 4 1776) — its principles AND its contradictions — using the Founding Contradiction T-chart MG-13
Exercise Difficulty 4 ~7 min hist.g5.f.ex_40

Common Sense Close Reading

MG-7 Interactive Physical / non-image

Federal Founding-Era Archive Card (FOUR-PAGE form used by every child for every primary-source document analyzed in the unit). PAGE 1 SOURCING: Title of source / Author or creator / Year created / Where created / Purpose (why was this made? for whom?) / Genre (TREATY / LAW / PAMPHLET / PROCLAMATION / POEM / NARRATIVE / ENGRAVING / NEWSPAPER / SERMON / MAP / LETTER / JOURNAL — circle one). PAGE 2 CONTEXTUALIZATION: What was happening in the Atlantic World when this was made? Who held power? Who was excluded? What other events took place near this date? PAGE 3 CORROBORATION: Find at least ONE other source about the same event or person. Do the two sources agree? Disagree? On what specifically? PAGE 4 CLOSE READING: Quote one important sentence from the source. What does it actually say? PLUS NMAI FIFTH MOVE: Whose voices are present in this source? Whose are absent? What land are we standing on as we read this? Style: high-contrast form-style layout; large-print version available; sentence-frame version available; audio-narration version available.

Prompt

Apply MG-7 to Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense' January 1776. Why was the pamphlet so widely read?

How it's presented
mode structured form prompt audio ID audio.g5f.ex 40.stem
Answer criteria
type MG7 partial
rubric
Required: Paine (English-born); 1776; plain language not elite; rejected monarchy as government type; 100,000+ copies in 3 months; ~2.5 million colonial population
required sections
sourcingcontextualizationclose_reading
Hints
  1. Lesson 18 covered Common Sense
  2. Plain language + mass distribution = mass political impact
Misconceptions to watch
  • Confusing Common Sense with the Declaration
  • Missing the plain-language reach
Used in lessons