Composing America

The reading in the book talks about the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Bill of Rights. All three of these documents share aspects of composition. They are composed of an argument or statement made by one person then revised by a committee. Then the reading goes on to say that the two most precious historical documents in American history are the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg address. It was interesting to learn that the Declaration we read in our history books is not the original version, it's the THIRD revised copy! Even the brilliant minds of our founding fathers made some errors. It's also interesting how we celebrate independence on the day of the printing of the Deceleration and not the day it was signed. I think we do that because after we print something out it's official, and you can't really make changes to it. That goes for kids turning in their final drafts to their professors too, after we print it out, we can't change it! It was interesting seeing the different corrections made to the document. It was also very cool to see Lincolns first draft to his most famous speech. Scholars believe that Lincoln created a second draft after the event. I personally liked the power point presentation better because it highlights the important parts, but that's just my opinion.