What word means a formal public statement?

The word that means a formal public statement, on the USCIS reading vocabulary list, is Declaration. A declaration is a formal, official, and often public announcement of intent, policy, or fact.

The most important declaration in American history is the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The document, drafted principally by Thomas Jefferson with editing by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams (and further edits by Congress), announced that the thirteen American colonies were free and independent states no longer subject to British rule.

The Declaration's preamble articulates the philosophical foundation of the new nation: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It then lists 27 specific grievances against King George III to justify independence and concludes with the assertion that the colonies are "Free and Independent States."

The Declaration was signed by 56 delegates representing the thirteen colonies; John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, signed first and most prominently. Other notable U.S. declarations include the Declaration of Rights of Virginia (1776), which influenced the Bill of Rights; the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln issued in 1863 declaring slaves in Confederate states free; and various presidential declarations of war, of national emergency, and of states of disaster.

The verb to declare also appears in the constitutional power of Congress to declare war (Article I, section 8, clause 11). On the reading test Declaration may appear in a sentence about July 4, Thomas Jefferson, or American history.