The Preamble to 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."



Preamble - 1: an introductory statement; especially : the introductory part of a constitution or statute that usually states the reasons for and intent of the law 2: an introductory fact or circumstance; especially : one indicating what is to follow {Merriam~Webster Dictionary}

Notice the first three words to The Preamble: "We the people...", this is the key to the whole Constitution. The people possess all the power, we give the government the privilege to govern us, but they have guidelines that they must follow. The Preamble, along with The Constitution, provided a purpose and guidelines for the government.

"...form a more perfect union,". We already had a union or a confederacy, this system was experiencing difficulties and needed revised. They had the Annapolis Convention to iron out the issues. Not being completely able to, they decided to convene and have a general convention on May of 1787 at Philadelphia. This meeting was to revise The Articles of Confederation, but turned out to be what we know as The Constitutional Convention.

"...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," These are all self explanatory, but I would like to talk about two briefly; "promote the general welfare," Does not mean provide for it means promote. "secure the blessings of liberty..." This is the main and core purpose of the government, and the guideline they should always operate under.

Lastly there is "do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Who ordains and establishes The Constitution? We the people. All that is written between, "We the people..." and "...do ordain and establish..." , are reasons to ordain and establish The Constitution; which is the supreme law of the land and provides the guidelines, purposes and restrictions of the government.