Preamble to US 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." The Preamble of the United States Constitution has an interesting history. During the process of writing the Constitution, the Committee on Detail wrote a preamble, one which was not accepted by the Committee on Style. The chairman of this latter committee was Gouvernaur Morris, who decided to write his own Preamble. The Founders settled on six basic goals for the new form of government: Union, Justice, Tranquility, Defense, Welfare, and Liberty. Morris felt that these six principles should be included in the Preamble. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew the most important information in the Constitution, just in case they failed to read the rest of the Constitution. Morris wrote the Preamble in such a way that it has since been admired by many people, including political scientists, because it included the most important items and nothing extra. The Preamble written by Morris has been described as first-class, inspired, and even poetic. The people proved Morris to be wrong in his assumption that they would not read the Constitution. There were thousands of people who read the entire text because they were so concerned about the new form of government. It is important that we also know what is in the Constitution; therefore, I am embarking on a study of the Constitution for the details. Please join me in this study. Monday is now considered Constitution Monday. I hope you will use my messages as ideas for your own family teaching moments. We can begin by memorizing the Preamble in its entirety. This is an excellent activity for family home evening tonight!