Constitutional Education:
US Constitution Preamble:
"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"
Let us do a full break down word for word the preamble and the intent of our entire Constitution from this single paragraph.
"We The People" what are "We The People"?
We The People are everyone. All persons of these United States.
"in Order to form a more perfect Union"
What is the Union? The Union was of 13 independent States coming together, forming a Union of states. They sought a more perfect Union for the purpose of unity.
What was this Union designed for?
To establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.
So what is Justice?
Justice the quality of being fair and reasonable. Our justice system was a system designed for equality, and to be fair and reasonable. Our Justice as defined in the judicial powers of Article 3, gave very limited authority to the judicial branch of the United States for the purpose of maintaining a free society. We The People were given the authority to keep the judicial branch in check through the Jury. However, that is a topic for another day.
Domestic Tranquility: Domestic tranquility generally means peace at home. It can be referenced to family as well as states. Domestic Tranquility with regard to the Constitution is referred to peace among the States. The purpose of this was as simple as it comes. That we ought to live free and peaceful lives without government interference.
Common Defense: The common defense, being one of the few powers granted to the federal authority, in order to secure and ensure the peace and defense of all of the States of the Union. So that the smaller states would not be subject to larger states, or foreign threat. This common defense aspect of the Preamble, is essentially what one could call a "mutual defense pact" among States.
"Promote the general Welfare" First and foremost, it must be asked "What exactly is, the general Welfare?" In this terminology, it is seen as ensuring the safety, and prosperity of the people of the nation. That anyone would have the ability to live a prosperous life and live it safely. If you go forward to Article I Section 8, it is known as the Welfare Clause where it defines and limits exactly what the general Welfare encompasses. You could also read the Cod Fishery debates where James Madison fought against subsidizing on the grounds of "welfare".
And finally, to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity: Our Liberty, meaning freedom from tyranny is to be secured to ourselves, that it may not be forfeited or taken away by any means, and that all our future generations ought to also be secure in their Liberty and freedoms.
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This single paragraph of our Constitution, the Preamble of it alone shows the intent of the Constitution. In my opinion the United States Constitution is still to this day, the single greatest document written by man. There is a reason why the US Constitution is the oldest Constitution in the World that is still in use to this day.
If we were to return to Constitutional principles laid forth by our Founding Fathers, we would live as free men without our liberties being stripped away from us at every turn.
We The People, as noted above, meaning all of us, must all hold our leaders accountable to the United States Constitution, no matter who they may be.
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