First Inaugural Address - Abraham Lincoln

March 4, 1861: First Inaugural Address - Abraham Lincoln

According to Abraham Lincoln the formation of our Union, which takes on the form of the Federal Government, goes all the way back to the Articles of Association of 1774 and was continued/refined by the rest of our founding documents.

Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that, in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union [corporation] is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787 one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union.

https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/march-4-1861-first-inaugural-address

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/contcong_10-20-74.asp