•Why it earns a slot
As the founding charter of American self-governance and the first eBook digitized by Project Gutenberg in 1971, this document holds a dual landmark status: it articulates the Enlightenment principles that shaped modern democratic theory and stands as the starting point of the entire public-domain digital library movement.
Adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the Declaration announces the thirteen American colonies' separation from Britain and explains why. It asserts that all men possess unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. It then catalogs the specific abuses of King George III that justify revolution, and formally proclaims the colonies to be free and independent states.
This distillation is written from the freely available original, which is always the better read when you have the time: gutenberg.org.