Have you ever wondered how the United States became a nation? Or who decided the laws that govern our country?

The thirteen American colonies announced their decision to become a nation to the world on July 4, 1776, declaring themselves free from British rule. Their public announcement is known as the Declaration of Independence.

What exactly did the Declaration of Independence say? Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, first explained that all people have rights and that it is the government’s job to protect the people’s rights. Rights are unearned privileges given by God to all people, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Then, Thomas explained what these rights were and how King George III of Great Britain had violated these rights.

“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.”

The Declaration of Independence made it clear that a government gets it power from the people. Now that the thirteen American colonies were no longer under British rule, they had to make their own set of laws to govern their brand-new nation. 

The first rules made were called the Articles of Confederation. These were used to help establish the United States government.

Soon after these rules were made, it became clear that there were problems with these laws. Under the Articles, each colony had too much power. It was like trying to run thirteen different countries who all had their own rules!

 To fix the problems with the Articles of Confederation, a group of men came together in 1787 to write the Constitution, a new set of laws for the country. 

The Constitution explained that the national or federal government needed to share power with the state governments. While states could make their own laws, none of their laws could contradict the laws of the United States.

The Constitution created three branches of government: legislative, judicial, and executive. The three branches each have powers over the others to help make sure none of the branches becomes too powerful. These are known as checks and balances.