Census Bureau Home Page. GPO U.S. Government Bookstore Main Page. Government Information Locator Service (GILS) Main Page. The Federal Judiciary. THOMAS (Library of Congress) FedWorld.gov home. Office of the Clerk. GPO Access Home Page. U.S. Senate. United States House of Representatives, 110th Congress, 1st Session. US Citizens' Handbook. "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed. " — Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence Since the Second Continental Congress declared America's independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776, the United States government has sought to realize the fundamental principle on which our nation was founded: that all people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This principle was formalized in 1788 with the ratification of the Constitution.
That document — still the supreme law of the United States — became the foundation of a federal government that allowed the several states to act together as one, while protecting the sovereignty of each individual state. To ensure that no person or group would amass too much power, the founders established a government in which the powers to create, implement, and adjudicate laws were separated.