How it fits together
The Declaration of Independence announced the colonies’ separation from Britain in 1776. It argued that people have rights and that government gets its legitimate authority from the consent of the governed. These ideas help explain the later Constitution’s opening words, “We the People.”
A closer look
The Declaration announced independence; the Constitution established a framework for government. They are different documents with different jobs. The ideal of equality also differed sharply from life at the time, when slavery and exclusions from political participation continued.