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One Source, Multiple Versions, Many Perspectives: Teaching Key Documents in U.S. History – Teaching with the Library

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One Source, Multiple Versions, Many Perspectives: Teaching Key Documents in U.S. History

In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.

One Source, Multiple Versions, Many Perspectives: Teaching Key Documents in U.S. History

Posted by: Colleen Smith, January 27, 2026

This blog post is by Lee Ann Potter, director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at the Library of Congress.

At the recent annual meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA) in Chicago, I presented a K-16 teacher workshop titled “Revolutionary History Teaching.” As the title suggested, I engaged participants with primary sources and teaching strategies related to the American Revolution.

To introduce an activity focused on the Declaration of Independence, I asked the participating teachers if they invited their students to read the founding document. They all said yes, doing so was part of their regular approach in both history and civics classes.

“Which version?” I asked, to which I received few responses and many quizzical looks.

I proceeded to divide the teachers into smaller groups and provided each with a facsimile of a different version of the Declaration. The versions I shared included:

Thomas Jefferson’s “original Rough draught” of the Declaration of Independence, written in June 1776, including all the changes made later by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other members of the committee, and by Congress. I included Professor Julian Boyd’s reconstruction of it.
The Dunlap Broadside, the first printed version of the American Declaration of Independence.
The Pennsylvania Evening Post, July 6, 1776 (page 1), the first newspaper printing of the Declaration.
The Goddard Broadside, Printed by Mary Katharine Goddard, in Baltimore, MD, 1777.
The Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, Volume 5, pages 509-518 (that focus on July 4, 1776).

I encouraged the teachers to read their versions, to consider their students’ capabilities and background knowledge, as well as their course objectives, and to discuss within their small groups the associated pros and cons of inviting students to read their version rather than simply the document’s text.

Then we engaged in a larger group discussion about each version. The group with The Pennsylvania Evening Post was particularly interested in the advertisements that also ran in the edition and discussed how news was shared and spread in the 1770s; the group with the Dunlap Broadside also discussed the sharing of information and noted that the names of most of the delegates to the Second Continental Congress were missing, but they were present on the Goddard Broadside; the Goddard Broadside also prompted curiosity about Mary Katharine Goddard; those reading the rough draft commented on the value of sharing rough drafts with students and suggested that the section related to slavery, that was not included in the final document, would be of particular interest to their students; and the Journal was described as providing an interesting play-by-play of the document and other events and issues from the perspective of Congress.

Our conclusion after a rich discussion: Sharing multiple versions of the Declaration with students may encourage knowledge of its contents to transform into curiosity about its context.

Have you tried a similar approach with other seminal documents? If so, what have the results been? Please share your experience in the comments!

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