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The 1996 Winter edition of The National Lawyers Association Review links the Declaration of Independence to The U.S. Constitution:

Constitutions and Bills of Right are but vain and futile barricades against tyranny unless, as our Declaration of Independence says-they are firmly founded in and upon the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."

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... That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted....

The National Lawyers Association takes the position that there is a legal connection or relationship between the Declaration and the Constitution based, in part, on the following:

A. Our Founding Fathers intended for the Declaration to be thefoundation for the Government that was being established.

B. The language in the Declaration of Independence itself makes it clear that it is to be a vital and necessary part of the government.

C. The language in the Constitution acknowledges its legal connection or relationship with the Declaration.

D. The Declaration has been referenced by various federal courts in hundreds of decisions including several decisions by the United States Supreme Court.

E. Legislation by Congress admitting states into the union acknowledges and confirms that the principles set forth in the Declaration constitute the foundation of the government of America.

The National Lawyers Association takes the position that the practical effect of the legal connection or relationship between the Declaration and the Constitution is that the Constitution is to be interpreted in the light of the principles set forth in the Declaration.

A. The United States Code Annotated treats the Declaration as a part of the organic law of the government of the United States of America.

1. The Preface to the United States Code - Annotated states that "this code is the official restatement in convenient form of the general and permanent laws of the United States in force December 7, 1925...." The Preface also states that there is also contained therein a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Ordinance of 1787 and the Constitution with Amendments.

The Preamble introduces and explains the purpose of The U.S. Constitution, and links it to The Declaration of Independence:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice...and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity...."