Speaker Andrian Candu, in the name of Parliament and the people of Moldova, congratulated the people of the United States on the occasion of Independence Day that is marked on July 4. At the end of the July 3 sitting of the legislature, he also thanked the American people for the support provided to Moldova, IPN reports.

Independence Day of the United States is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the date on which the United States formally separated from Great Britain.

By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) severed their political connections to Great Britain.

The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the founding document of the American political tradition. It articulates the fundamental ideas that form the American nation: All men are created free and equal and possess the same inherent, natural rights. Legitimate governments must therefore be based on the consent of the governed and must exist “to secure these rights.”