Primary source · 4 July 1776
Declaration of Independence (1776)
Public domain. Hosted on Life Academy. MLA: Declaration of Independence. 1776. Life Academy Source Library.
In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another… a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…
This document is the argument for independence. It is not the U.S. Constitution (that frame of government comes in 1787). When you write, keep those jobs separate.