Probably that none of the delegates from the thirteen colonies who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 in Philadelphia, in statehouse of Pennsylvania (now known as Independence Hall), ever dreamed that the newly formed state will reach in less than two centuries one of the world's superpowers. After all it was about 1.5 million colonists (one fifth of then England's population), in overwhelming majority farmers, occupying, that's right, 2,150,000 square km (an area about 16 times the one of England). Then why was the mentioned building included among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, if not for that the United States is a superpower (in fact this wouldn't have been a viable argument)? Because "the universal principles of the right to revolution and self-government as expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776) and Constitution (1787), which were debated, adopted, and signed in Independence Hall, have profoundly influenced lawmakers and politicians around the world." I would add "for a while", or at least "at declamatory level."
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