ANGLAIS :

I. THE DÉCLARATION OF INDÉPENDANCE & U.S CONSTITUTION I

• THE DÉCLARATION OF INDÉPENDANCE :

Thomas Jefferson wrote most of the Declaration of Independence in the early summer of 1776. Its purpose was to announce that the 13 English colonies in North America had decided to become independent of England and start their own, new country. Another idea is that a government gets its power from the people. This principle is called popular sovereignty. The Declaration of Independence states that a government gets or derives its power from the people it rules. If the government misuses its power, the people have the right to form a new government. By the middle of the 1700s, English colonists living in America had set up their own governments in towns and colonies. They usually made their own laws and chose the people they wanted to represent them. In 1760, King George III became the ruler of Great Britain and decided to take more control of the colonies. King George and the English Parliament passed taxes and laws that the colonists hated and felt were unfair. In 1774, a group of colonial leaders met (the First Continental Congress) and wrote a letter to the king declaring they were loyal subjects and asking him to let them elect their own leaders and make their own laws. King George ignored the colonists' complaints and said the colonies were in rebellion. Each of the 13 colonies sent representatives to a meeting in Philadelphia, called the Second Continental Congress. On July 4, 1776, these 56 delegates signed and adopted the Declaration of Independence.

• Introduction to the US constitution :

The U.S. Constitution states basic principles which guide our country's government and laws. When it was written in 1787, it was the plan which told the beginning country how to form its government. For example, the Constitution said that the United States would have a president and a vice president. The Constitution also said that