Constitutional Freedom

“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.”

What a beautiful sentence.  This is the Preamble of the United States Constitution.  It was written in 1787. The Preamble was written by Gouverneur Morris with the assistance of Alexander Hamilton, William Samuel Johnson, Rufus King, and James Madison.  The Preamble was written after a summer of deliberations, discussions and arguments about the purpose of a constitution, if one should be written at all and why the convention.  The Preamble was a summary of the feelings after the general compromise had been met.

Let’s examine the Preamble more closely.  First, the Preamble states “We the people…” so as to make us common as a collective group.  The Constitutional Convention was attended by representatives of the active states at the time.  The states had been organized weakly under the “Articles of Confederation”, and the challenge at the time was maintaining some level of cohesiveness.  The people were divided, and there was no real government to “keep the peace” among the states.  The people recognized the need for something new, and so joined together in 1787.  Therefore, the first line of the Preamble, “We the people”, is very appropriate.

The next part of the Preamble defines the 6 purposes of the constitution, and they are in order:

1. Form a more perfect Union
2. Establish Justice
3. Ensure domestic Tranquility
4. Provide for the common defense
5. Promote the general Welfare
6. Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity

As we learn more about the Constitution let us remember these 6 purposes.  We will place each article and amendment into at least one of these 6 purposes.