Short Essay Questions Task : Read and analyze the following documents , applying your social studies knowledge and skills to write a short essay of two or three paragraphs in which you Describe the historical context surrounding documents 1 and 2 Analyze Document 2 and explain how audience , or purpose , or bias , or point of view affects this document's use as a reliable source of evidence developing your short essay answer of two or three paragraphs , be sure to keep these explanations in mind Describe means " to illustrate something in words or tell about Historical Context refers to "the relevant historical circumstances surrounding or connecting the events , ideas , or developments in these documents " Analyze means "to examine a document and determine its elements and its relationships Explain means " to make plain or understandable ; to give reasons for or causes of to show the logical development or relationship of " Reliability is determined by how accurate and useful the information found in a source is for a specific purpose Document hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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 That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government , laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form , as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness Prudence , indeed , will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all experience hath shewn , that mankind are more disposed to suffer , while evils are sufferable , than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations , pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them underabsolute Despotism , it is their right , it is their duty , to throw off such Government , and to provide new Guards for their future security Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies ; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government . 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 . To prove this , let Facts be submitted to a candid world . urce : Declaration of Independence , 1776