Two of the most important documents in our country's history are the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and edited by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. The colonists thought British laws were unfair, so they declared independence on July 4, 1776, telling Britain they were now a free nation!

A few years later, delegates from the 13 states met at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Working from May to September 1787, James Madison and others wrote the U.S. Constitution to provide a framework for how the new government should work.

The founders did not want the government to have too much power, so they added the Bill of Rights—a list of rights that keeps the government from taking freedom away from the people. We celebrate Constitution Day every September 17th!

America's founding fathers had different points of view. A point of view is the way a person sees or thinks about events. To write the Constitution, they had to listen to each other's ideas and work together!

James Madison had to be flexible. He analyzed and evaluated different ideas that were not his own to make the government work for everyone. If the founding fathers had not listened and compromised, the country might have fallen apart!

Liberty means freedom! A symbol is something that stands for an idea. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are symbols of our liberty. We also have other famous national symbols!