Excerpt from "The Declaration of Independence"

Most of us know that this historical document endows Americans with the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. But its original purpose was to justify the violent separation from Great Britain by listing the abuses of King George III.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 11 Unit 1's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: A Cause Greater Than Self, The New Colossus, The Statue of Liberty Address, poems about America, America, America and I, What Is an American, Growing Up Asian in America, Let America Be America Again, The Four Freedoms, The Bill of Rights, What Is Freedom, Is the American Dream Still Possible, The Declaration of Independence, poems about immigrants, Money, A Raisin in the Sun, Who Burns, Roberto Acuna, Barack Obama, The Right to Fail
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. usurpation
    entry to another's property without right or permission
    The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations
  2. neglect
    fail to do something; leave something undone
    He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
  3. fatigue
    exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain
    He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
  4. dissolve
    declare void
    He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
  5. obstruct
    hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
    He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
  6. harass
    annoy continually or chronically
    He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
  7. impose
    inflict something unpleasant
    For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent
  8. deprive
    take away
    For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury
  9. abolish
    do away with
    For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments
  10. abdicate
    give up power, duties, or obligations
    He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
  11. ravage
    make a pillaging or destructive raid on, as in wartime
    He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
  12. perfidy
    betrayal of a trust
    He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
  13. constrain
    restrict
    He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
  14. oppression
    the act of subjugating by cruelty
    In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
  15. tyrant
    a cruel and oppressive dictator
    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.
Created on Sat Nov 08 19:13:38 EST 2014 (updated Thu Jul 02 16:36:06 EDT 2015)

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