[Notwithstanding]

Precisely - the legitimacy of any new Amreican govt comes directly from the Declaration - which all 13 states agreed to unanimously. The Declaration clearly acknowledges that America is subordinate to God and it clearly gives men permission to establish a new govt. It is justification for the Revolution and the Constitutional Convention. And as such, the resulting Constitution cannot pretend to be free from the ideology and philiosophy of the Declaration. On the contrary, all that is in the Declaration is indeed implicit to an extreme degree in the Constitution.

[We Happy Few]

Correct. Read Michael Novak's magnificent book on the Declaration of Independence.