The American Creed: A Biography of the Declaration of IndependenceWhat makes us all Americans whatever our differences is adherence to a creed, a creed based upon cornerstone truths the founders believed self evident. From the earliest days, the survival of the new republic hinged not merely upon the expression of these grand principles of liberty and equality but upon their spiritual underpinnings. Freedom and faith were intertwined. America, as a foreign observer once put it, is a nation with the soul of a church.