Throughout the years, very few youth education subjects have stuck with me. With this said I can clearly remember our requirement in 3rd and 4th grade to read, understand, and report on The Preamble of 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 defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the the United States of America.”

U.S. Constitution, 1787

I reference my personal allegory as it directly has impacted my life to this point. Until March 18, 2018, as a born and raised citizen of these United States of America I have never read the actual writings, in its entirety, of The Constitution. Such an important that lays the groundwork for our society as it sits today is cherry picked on its education towards our own students. I can understand completely that I may be an exception or perhaps simply my school although at the age of 27 I am determined to ensure I know where I stand.

History and Meaning of The Preamble

From the years of 1777 through 1787 when The Constitution was written, The United States of America was governed by The Articles of Confederation. Although written in 1777 it took 4 long years to be completely ratified in all 13 states. The Articles of Confederation laid the bedrock for our society although it was not without problems. Although this governance allowed for a federal government in which laws could be voted on and passed, it stripped the ability for the enforcement of these laws. This meaning that any law in which a particular state did not want to abide by could simply be ignored as there was no recourse for this act. In addition to this large hole in logic any proposed amendment was required to unanimous making a growing country less and less likely to prosper. After nearly 10 years of governance through The Articles of Confederation, along with pressure due to The Federalists Papers*, congress agreed to hold a convention in Philadelphia to revise the contents of The Articles of Confederation. Instead of modifying a document that had failed in may of the founding fathers eyes they concluded that a new document must be written.

The Preamble to The Constitution establishes content, intent, and overall meaning of the document. Each statement was chosen with intent that seems to stem from the grievances openly stated in The Federalists Papers. “in Order to form a more perfect Union” implies the understanding that The U.S. was currently flawed and it was being publicly stated on the first line of the document, this showed the openness for the founding fathers to realize past mistakes and the need to correct them. Each subsequent statement provides further incite …”insure domestic Tranquility,” stating how the government will be planned and run. This statement speaks directly to the clear definitions set forward in the 1st and 2nd Articles speaking of impeachment and how the process would be completed if the need ever arise. As with most constitutions or documents defining a nation …”provide for the common defence,” shows the intent for creating a military presence (Article 1). Moving into the impact on the public it states …”to promote the general Welfare,”, this impresses upon the fact that this document is not simply a “how to govern” buy what and why you are governing. The American Revolution was not started over simply overreaching government but one that overreached while ignoring their people. This logic continues when it is stated that the document is to …”secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,”. As this statement brings us to our first “our” I must now visit our first statement, “We The People of the United States”. This statement is actually the only direct statement that we know was written by one singular individual, Governor Morris (although his version did not state “United States” and instead literally listed every state). Governor Morris was very vocal through the writing of The Constitution ensuring the placement of emphasis of every phrase was precise, this being said it was clear that he wanted to emphasize the collective that is the citizens of The United States. This brings us to our very last statement, …”do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”. Throughout The Constitution as well as other important documents it is clear the founding fathers had a judeo-christian belief system. The word “ordain” in the English language was used in place of “decree” when someone wanted to emphasize that it was their God given right.

I feel this is getting a little lengthy and I will need to wrap it up. In summary The Preamble establishes the overall audience, directive, and intention of The Constitution.

Click here to view the entire breakdown with links to each article covered.

* It has been brought to my attention that my statement earlier about the “along with pressure due to The Federalists Papers” was misguided… The limited research I have completed, so far, on the Federalists Papers show that they were written after the creation of The Constitution draft and were to pressure the public into ratifying The Constitution to replace The Articles of Confederation. I am trying to ensure that any of my claims are truthful so please, if you see something wrong let me know… Again thank you to reddit user “US_Constitution” for pointing this out to me.

Please feel free to join the conversation, I would love to have another perspective join in anytime as the only true way I feel that we shall learn to find common ground is to start with a statement of our opposition!