The Declaration of Independence was the founding document of the United States. On July 4 1776, It was dopted unanimously by 56 delegates representing the Thirteen Colonies. It establishes the consensus that the British had no governing authority over the Thirteen Colonies, and lists 27 grievances against the British King George III. The 56 delegates that signed the document are known as the Founding Fathers.
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We 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.”
The Articles of Confederation were America’s first attempt to govern itself as an independent nation. They united the 13 colonies as a confederation, and defined them as ‘States’. They set rules for current and future operations of the centralized government and declared each state retains sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the national Congress. Congress was empowered to make war and peace, negotiate diplomatic and commercial agreements with foreign countries, and to resolve disputes between the states.
The document declares that its provisions “shall be inviolably observed by every state” and that “the Union shall be perpetual”.