Home > Preamble to the United States Constitution
The Preamble to the United States Constitution consists of a single sentence (a preamble) that introduces the document and its purpose. Note that the Preamble itself neither grants any powers nor inhibits any actions. It only explains the rationale behind the U.S. Constitution.1 Text
- We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure 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 United States of America.
2 We the People
The constitution is established by the sovereign "People" of the United States, not by the states themselves (though the states were responsible for ratifying the constitution). The constitution is acknowledged to be the supreme law, and any federal or state law contravening it is invalid. The principle contradicts the practice in many other countries, wherein the judgment of the legislature, the representatives of the people, is supreme under the doctrine of "parliamentary supremacy" or "parliamentary sovereignty." In the United States, however, the Constitution, established by the People, is deemed superior to laws established by their agents ( Congress).
3 A more perfect union
All the states were covetous of the sovereign power they had exercised since the break with Great Britain eleven years earlier. Balancing states' rights with the needs of a central government was no easy task. The makers of the constitution accomplished this by letting the states keep all the powers necessary to regulate the daily lives of their citizens, provided that these powers did not conflict with the needs and welfare of the nation as a whole. This division of authority, which is termed federalism, is essentially the same today. The power of each state over local affairs in matters such as education, public health, business organization, work conditions, marriage and divorce, local taxation, and ordinary police powers is so fully recognized and accepted that two neighboring states frequently have widely differing laws on the same subject.
Ingenious though the constitutional arrangement was, the controversy over states' rights continued to fester until three-quarters of a century later. In 1861, a four-year war broke out between the states of the North and those of the South. The war was known as the American Civil War, or the War Between the States, and the underlying issue was the right of the federal government to regulate slavery in the newer states of the Union. Northerners insisted that the federal government had such a right, while southerners held that slavery was a matter for each state to decide on its own. When a group of southern states purported to secedeSecession is the act of withdrawing from an organization or union, used particularly in the case of the Southern states of the United States seceding prior to the American Civil War. A "reverse" secession of sorts happened at this time when the northweste from the Union, war broke out and was fought on the principle of the preservation of the republic. With the defeat of the southern states and their subsequent readmission into the Union, federal supremacy was reaffirmed and slavery was abolished completely.
4 Justice
The essence of American democracyA democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter the laws and structures of government lies with the voting citizenry (referred to as "the people", because in modern times it usually consists of all people over 18 years of age), and all is contained in the Declaration of IndependenceThe Declaration of Independence is a document in which the Thirteen Colonies declared themselves independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. It was ratified by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776; this, with its ringing phrase, " All men are created equalThe phrase All men are created equal is arguably the single most well-known in any of America's political documents, since the idea it expresses is generally considered the foundation of American democracy. The phrase in context in the opening of the Decl," and the follow-up statements "that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are lifeAlternate uses: see Life (disambiguation) and Living (disambiguation Life is a multi-faceted concept with no simple definition; this article is confined to the primary meanings in biology; articles on life in other senses are included in the article life, libertyThe word liberty when used alone, has several possible meanings in the English language see Liberty disambiguation for other possible uses. Liberty or personal freedom, is a condition in which an individual has immunity from the arbitrary exercise of auth, and the pursuit of happinessThis article is about an emotion. Happiness is also a 1998 U. film written and directed by Todd Solondz. See also Joy for the disambiguation of that term. Happiness pleasure or joy is the emotional state of being happy . The definition of happiness is one." The Declaration of Independence also states that
- these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;... and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
The constitution makes no distinction as to the wealthWealth usually refers to money and property. It is the abundance of objects of value and also the state of having accumulated these objects. The use of the word itself assumes some socially-accepted means of identifying objects, land, or money as "belongi or status of persons; all are equal before the law, and all are equally subject to judgment and punishment when they violate the law. The same holds true for civil disputes involving property, legal agreements, and business arrangements. Open access to the courts is one of the vital guarantees written into the Bill of Rights.
