Without the Declaration of Independence, there simply would have been no Constitution, and the former was a unique document in all respects. The Constitution, as an framework for the operation of a state, is in itself not a unique concept, although the ideas enshrined therein are.While the Declaration was important, it was more a statement of "why" than anything else. The Constitution was a statement of "how". For the first time, it established a nation where the individual was superior, where one's own conscience trumped the whims of the government or the strictures of any given religious faith. It established the things that the people would allow government to do, instead of the opposite. It established ways to guarantee and preserve these limitations. Finally, it established a way to amend itself when it was clearly neccesary.
It was the Constitution that established this Nation as the greatest the world has ever seen.
-Eric
"For the first time, it established a nation where the individual was superior, where one's own conscience trumped the whims of the government or the strictures of any given religious faith."
Principles first espoused in the Declaration. I see your points, but still believe as I stated.
Nonetheless, the Constitution is indubitably one of the two greatest documents in human history. The Declaration was the other.