The United States Constitution Part 2: "We The People..."

The first three words of the Constitution of the United States are very powerful:

"We The People..."

It's powerful because it starts the document with those responsible for its creation and implementation. It doesn't say, "We the government..." or "We the chosen ones..." It says, "We the people..." Keep that in mind as you read the constitution and live your life. For the United States Citizen, YOU are "the people." Act like it.

The preamble is an introduction to the greatest experiment in self-government that has ever been created, even today. Maybe you learned it on a Saturday morning while listening to, "School House Rock."  I show that clip to 8th graders because I think it does a nice job of laying out all the parts and how they applied in the past and how they apply today. "Today" being 1976 when it was shown on TV. 

Here is the full preamble, which by itself is beautiful, and would guide our founding fathers on their mission of developing the constitution.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

I have already covered, "We the People..." but it is so powerful, I want to bring attention to it again. In that room in Philadelphia, some of the most powerful and brilliant men to ever live were in one spot, developing a government for the masses, and the first thing they want to ensure is that the people are governed by themselves.

The purpose of creating the constitution is clear:

"...in Order to form a more perfect Union..."

Note that the founders are realistic in their mission. They understand that it isn't possible to develop a perfect government, but they can work toward making it, "more perfect" and that premise will continue as we actively seek to make the United States "more perfect" every day.

USHistory.org

That phrase "perfect" would come up again when it was time for Benjamine Franklin to sign. Before he placed pen to the parchment he stated:

"I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution, it, therefore, astonishes me, to find this system approaching so near to perfect...and I think it will astonish our enemies. Because Is expect no better, and because I'm not sure that it is not the best, I urge every member of this convention to put his name to this instrument."

As the oldest member of the convention, Franklin had a lot to say! When the convention was over, he said that he often looked at the chair that George Washington was sitting in, day after day, and wondered if the sun carved into the wood was rising, or setting on this new nation. He ended by saying:

"I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun."

After staying the purpose of the Constitution, the preamble lays out five things that the founders believe the government should do for the people.

 
1. Establish Justice: As colonists, people were treated, tried, convicted, etc. based on whatever the King and/or his representative wanted. The "law" was not applicable to everyone in the same amounts. The founders believed that every law should be applied to every person without preference or prejudice.
2. Insure Domestic Tranquility: In the Articles of Confederation, states would often have disagreements without any way of settling the dispute. Although many of the founders were strongly opposed to a strong central government, they recognized that it had to be strong enough to keep the peace between individual states.
3. Provide for the Common Defenses: Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government was able to raise an Army and a Navy, but they weren't allowed to levy taxes
   (They had enough taxes from Great Britan!). Similar to domestic tranquility, the founding fathers understood that defending their new country had to be done by the central government because the states would not/could not develop the resources needed to fight and win a war.
4. Promote the General Welfare: "Promote" is a very different word than "Provide" above. I think it's very important to note the difference when you look at how the government is run today. Some will say that we spend too much money on our National Defense, while others are okay with how much we spend. The Constitution states that the government will "provide" for the common defense, so does that justify the use of taxpayer dollars? Others argue that we should spend more on welfare items such as a federally set minimum wage of $15 per hour, paying off college debt, etc. The Constitution states that the people will "promote" the general welfare, not provide it. Is that justification for not spending taxpayer dollars? Where do you stand and what is your constitutional foundation for your belief? Comment on this post and let me know.
5. Secure the Blessings of Liberty: The founders wanted to build a government that would secure their liberty. Another way to say this was that they wanted to keep "safe" their "freedom from government control." They not only wanted freedom for themselves but also their posterity which simply means the people that generations that follow after them. They didn't want this government to be a flash in the pan that would fall apart after they were gone but wanted it to be able to endure whatever would be thrown at the nation, whether it be war, pandemic, or internal corruption.

A summary of the Preamble in less technical language might look something like this:

"We the People (Can't change that part!) are creating this new government to make sure everyone is justified under the law, the states don't fight, everyone is protected by our Military, we try to help others help themselves, and we want to keep ourselves and our children free from too much government control."

In all fairness, the founders said it much better than I did!

~~~

Here is a link to the U.S. Constitution.

Leave a comment and share this post!

Resources:

Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dictionary.com/

Hart, D., Bower, B., & Lobdell, J. (2002). History alive. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute.

The Rising Sun Armchair (George Washington's Chair). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ushistory.org/more/sun.htm