Founding of the United Federation of Planets

The United Federation of Planets grew out of a decade of hard-won cooperation. After the Xindi crisis, the Terra Prime affair and the war with the Romulan Star Empire, Earth, Vulcan, Andoria and Tellar had learned that their security depended on one another. The Coalition of Planets formed in 2155 proved a first step, but its members wanted a closer, permanent union.

In 2161 delegates gathered in San Francisco to sign the Federation Charter. Jonathan Archer, whose Enterprise NX-01 had brought these worlds together, was to deliver a speech at the ceremony, and the ship itself was about to be decommissioned. The final episode of Enterprise shows these last days largely through a later holodeck recreation viewed by William Riker, and Archer's speech is never actually heard.

The Federation became the central political power of the Alpha Quadrant for centuries to come. Starfleet, founded by Earth, became its exploration and defence service, and the principles of equality, peaceful contact and non-interference shaped nearly every later Star Trek series. The Charter's signing is often treated as the founding moment of the franchise's optimistic future.