The Preamble Ref: Mount, Steve.
"Constitutional Topic: Martial Law." USConstitution.net. 30 Nov 2001.
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_pre.html
The Constitution was written by several committees over the summer of
1787, but the committee most responsible for the final form we know today is the
"Committee of Stile and Arrangement". This Committee was tasked with getting all
of the articles and clauses agreed to by the Convention and putting them into a
logical order. On September 10, 1787, the Committee of Style set to work, and
two days later, it presented the Convention with its final draft. The members
were Alexander Hamilton, William Johnson, Rufus King, James Madison, and
Gouverneur Morris. The actual text of the Preamble and of much of the rest of
this final draft is usually attributed to Gouverneur Morris.
The newly minted document began with a grand flourish - the Preamble, the
Constitution's r'aison d'etre. It holds in its words the hopes and dreams
of the delegates to the convention, a justification for what they had done. Its
words are familiar to us today, but because of time and context, the words are
not always easy to follow. The remainder of this Topic Page will examine each
sentence in the Preamble and explain it for today's audience.
We the People of the United States
The Framers were an elite group - among the best and brightest America had
to offer at the time. But they knew that they were trying to forge a nation made
up not of an elite, but of the common man. Without the approval of the common
man, they feared revolution. This first part of the Preamble speaks to the
common man. It puts into writing, as clear as day, the notion that the people
were creating this Constitution. It was not handed down by a god or by a king -
it was created by the people.
in Order to form a more perfect Union
The Framers were dissatisfied with the United States under the
Articles of Confederation,
but they felt that what they had was the best they could have, up to now. They
were striving for something better. The Articles of Confederation had been a
grand experiment that had worked well up to a point, but now, less than ten
years into that experiment, cracks were showing. The new United States, under
this new Constitution, would be more perfect. Not perfect, but more
perfect.
establish Justice
Injustice, unfairness of laws and in trade, was of great concern to the
people of 1787. People looked forward to a nation with a level playing field,
where courts were established with uniformity and where trade within and outside
the borders of the country would be fair and unmolested. Today, we enjoy a
system of justice that is one of the fairest in the world. It has not always
been so - only through great struggle can we now say that every citizen has the
opportunity for a fair trial and for equal treatment, and even today there still
exists discrimination. But we still strive for the justice that the Framers
wrote about.
insure domestic Tranquility
One of the events that caused the Convention to be held was the revolt of
Massachusetts farmers knows as Shays' Rebellion. The taking up of arms by war
veterans revolting against the state government was a shock to the system. The
keeping of the peace was on everyone's mind, and the maintenance of tranquility
at home was a prime concern. The framers hoped that the new powers given the
federal government would prevent any such rebellions in the future.
provide for the common defence
The new nation was fearful of attack from all sides - and no one state was
really capable of fending off an attack from land or sea by itself. With a wary
eye on Britain and Spain, and ever-watchful for Indian attack, no one of the
United States could go it alone. They needed each other to survive in the harsh
world of international politics of the 18th century.
promote the general Welfare
This, and the next part of the Preamble, are the culmination of everything
that came before it - the whole point of having tranquility, justice, and
defense was to promote the general welfare - to allow every state and every
citizen of those states to benefit from what the government could provide. The
framers looked forward to the expansion of land holdings, industry, and
investment, and they knew that a strong national government would be the
beginning of that.
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity
Hand in hand with the general welfare, the framers looked forward to the
blessings of liberty - something they had all fought hard for just a decade
before. They were very concerned that they were creating a nation that would
resemble something of a paradise for liberty, as opposed to the tyranny of a
monarchy, where citizens could look forward to being free as opposed to looking
out for the interests of a king. And more than for themselves, they wanted to be
sure that the future generations of Americans would enjoy the same.
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United
States of America
The final clause of the Preamble is almost anti-climatic, but it is
important for a few reasons - it finishes the "We, the people" thought, saying
what we the people are actually doing; it gives us a name for this document, and
it restates the name of the nation adopting the Constitution. That the
Constitution is "ordained" reminds us of the higher power involved here - not
just of a single person or of a king, but of the people themselves. That is it
"established" reminds us that it replaces that which came before - the United
States under the Articles (a point lost on us today, but quite relevant at the
time).
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