The Connection Between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence

The signing of the Declaration of Independence is the recognized date for U.S. sovereignty and independence, a document in which the Founders articulated the core values on which the mission of the Constitution was to be based.  The Constitution was then dated in terms of the signing of the Declaration, thereby manifesting its relationship as the second great document in an historical sequence of works already in progress.

The Supreme Court has reflected on the relationship between the Declaration and the Constitution on a number of times as being one that is inseparable and interdependent.  The Court declared in Gulf, C. & S. F. R. CO. v. Ellis, 165 U.S. 150, 160 (1897) that the Constitution is the body and letter of which the Declaration of Independence is the thought and the spirit, and it is always safe to read the letter of the Constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.

Another reference to the Declaration was made in Cotting v. Godard, 183 U.S. 79, 94 (1901):

The first official action of this nation declared the foundation of government in these words: 'We hold these truths to be selfevident, 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.' While such declaration of principles may not have the force of organic law, or be made the basis of judicial decision as to the limits of right and duty, and while in all cases reference must be had to the organic law of the nation for such limits, yet the latter is but the body and the letter of which the former is the thought and the spirit, and it is always safe to read the letter of the Constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. No duty rests more imperatively upon the courts than the enforcement of those constitutional provisions intended to secure that equality of rights which is the foundation of free government.

The Declaration, and the Constitution, remain fully relevant today in the fabric of the nation’s principles, and in the pursuit of its purpose.