Lesson 1 *The Declaration of *Independence* & *The* U.S Constitution*. The declaration of independence. First of all, the declaration said, more or less that: « We are going to separate ourselves from The British Empire », he justifies this decision later. He also said in this document that « we are making this big decision because a decent respect of the opinion of mankind impels us to make this decision ». It means that they were forced by the British Empire’s bad behavior towards the colonies. He also wrote that men are « born equal » and own rights that nobody cans alter. In the middle of it Jefferson accuses the king about crimes, like *unfair justice, legislature (taxation), that the King has* conspired with the parliament against the colonies. Jefferson also accuses the king of violence and cruelty. He makes a long list of abuses and usurpation. The articles of the independence were written in March of 1781. In May of 1789 (the first one was flawed, it accorded too much independence to each states individually) a new constitution is written, The *Philadelphia C*onvention. The debate about the new constitution takes place there. The articles of independence which lasted a few years are the first articles of the constitution. They wrote a new constitution which was approved and voted on by the delegates at that Philadelphia Convention, and then it goes out to the thirteen states to be ratified. Around 1787 each and every state individually ratified the US constitution. The 1st state ratified it in December, it was Delaware. The final state to vote in favor of the constitution was 2 years later: the state of Vermont. Here’s a thing about the US constitution. It *has these seven articles and 27 amendment*s only. The total length of the American constitution is about 18 pages. Without the 27 amendments, it is really much a skeleton. It does not lay out what the government should do… it’s different from the European constitution.