Preamble to Constitution

                    The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States has an interesting history.  While the Constitution was being written, the Committee on Detail wrote one preamble that was not accepted by the Committee on Style.  Gouvernaur Morris, the chairman of the latter committee, decided to write his own version.  He included the six basic goals that the Framers wanted for the new form of government:  Union, Justice, Tranquility, Defense, Welfare, and Liberty.  He wanted the Preamble to contain the most important information in the Constitution.

                    The Preamble of the United States Constitution says, "WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure 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."

                    The Preamble includes the following seven provisions as explained by W. Cleon Skousen in his book entitled The Making of America - The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, pp. 233-247.

Provision 1:  "The Constitution is ordained and established by `We the people.'  This principle recognized the unalienable RIGHT of the people of the United States to govern themselves.

                    "In no country on earth were there political leaders who had more confidence in the people than those who structured the government of the United States…."

Provision 2:  "The first goal of sound government is to provide a more perfect union.  This principle recognized the RIGHT of the people of the United States to live in a solidly structured nation where all of the states are combined in a perpetual union."

Provision 3:  "This Constitution is designed to provide equal justice for all.  This provision anticipates the RIGHT of every inhabitant of the United States to be protected in his life and liberty and to be treated as innocent until proven guilty when brought before the bar of justice….

"When a government protects the rights of its people and provides an adequate remedy for those whose rights have been violated, then that government is providing equal justice for all.

"Justice requires an opportunity and a place to complain of an injury as well as the machinery to provide a remedy.  For the accused, justice requires the opportunity to hear and understand the charge, cross-examine those who are making the charge, have a fair and speedy trial, and have an opportunity to repair the wrong if found guilty.

"Nothing destroys the credibility of a government faster than its failure to provide fair and equal justice for its people."

Provision 4:   "This Constitution is designed to ensure peace, security, and domestic tranquility among the people.  This provision anticipates the RIGHT of the people to enjoy a state of law and order so that they can enjoy a sense of security and peace.

                    "There is nothing more disruptive to orderly government and domestic tranquility than festering outbursts of mobocracy….

                    "The Constitution guaranteed to the states that federal forces would intervene if mobs or an invading enemy tried to overthrow the elected representatives of their republican form of government.  The Constitution also allowed the states to call upon federal forces to assist them in cases of domestic violence."

Provision 5:  "This Constitution shall provide for a common defense against all enemies, both internally and externally.

This provision anticipated the RIGHT of the people to be protected from all enemies who might seek to conquer or destroy the United States.

                    "Predatory, war-mongering nations use two methods of attack.  One is invasion, the other is internal subversion.  A common defense of the nation requires that the national government protect the states against both."

                    Skousen included two quotes which showed how the Founders were "unequivocal in their commitment to `peace through strength.'"

                    "The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war.  They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent."  (Benjamin Franklin)

                    "To be prepared for war is one of the effectual means of preserving peace."  (George Washington)

Provision 6:  "This Constitution is designed to promote those practices and policies which shall be for the general welfare of the whole nation.  This provision anticipates the RIGHT of Americans to have its government serve the welfare of the people in their collective needs - that is, their GENERAL welfare - and not use the resources of the people for the benefit of certain states or certain people, which would be SPECIAL welfare."

Provision 7:  "The Founders said the purpose of the Constitution would be to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity.  This provision anticipated the RIGHT of all Americans to have their government continually engaged in the protection of the freedom of the people from generation to generation.

                    "The Constitution was designed to provide a `divided, balanced, limited' government so that it would remain in the center of the political spectrum and not drift toward anarchy or tyranny."

                    The Preamble of the United States Constitution tells us that the PEOPLE have the ultimate say in how the country is governed.  The PEOPLE give certain powers to the government to exercise in good faith; if the government abuses its powers, the PEOPLE have the RIGHT to regain control of the government.

                   

Presidential Objections

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article I.7.2, "If the President does not approve of a bill, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house from which it originated, and the objections of the President shall be entered in the journal of that house." This provision allows the President to veto and send back any bill that he does not approve of, and it also gives Congress the right to keep an official record of the Presidential concerns.

Inhabitant of State

Provision 15 of the United States Constitution is found in Article I.2.2: "A person cannot be elected to the House of Representatives unless he is an inhabitant of that state which he will be representing." This provision says that people had the Right to be represented by someone who lives in the same state. When Robert Kennedy of Massachusetts and later Hilary Clinton of Arkansas wanted to run for office in New York, they each had to become an "inhabitant" of New York to be qualified. Apparently, the original word was resident, and it was changed to "inhabitant" in order to cause less "misconstruction." In the beginning, Representatives from each state were to be elected by a state-wide vote. In 1842 the state legislatures were required by Congress to divide their states into congressional districts. They anticipated that this requirement would bring better and fairer representation because people would have a greater voice as to who should represent them. The thought was that the Representatives should be as much like the people they represent as possible. I think that a simple explanation would suffice to teach this principle to your family. It is fairly easy to understand that a Texas would understand better the needs of Texans than someone from Alaska or Virginia would.

Promote the General Welfare

The sixth principle of the Constitution of the United States is found in the Preamble - "Promote the General Welfare." This principle tells us that the Constitution is "designed to promote those practices and policies which shall be for the general welfare of the whole nation" (W. Cleon Skousen in The Making of America - The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p 244). It also tells us that the citizens of the United States have the Right to expect their government to meet the needs of Americans as a group. It says "general welfare," not individual or personal welfare. It is interesting to me that the Founders used the word "provide" in the previous principle, as in "provide for the common defense," but they used the word "promote" in this principle. Provide means to furnish, give, or supply what is needed. Promote means to help something to advance, develop or grow. The fact that they used the two different words as they did tells me that they wanted the Federal Government to treat "defense" differently than "welfare." The Federal Government is responsible to provide the common defense but simply to promote the general welfare. The words "common" and "general" mean that these principles apply to all Americans as a whole but not as individuals, favored groups, or states, as some citizens assume that this principle means. "General welfare" means the care of the people as a whole. This principle is there to insure that "the national government administers its power without prejudice, discrimination, or favoritism. Furthermore, the Founders did not want the power and resources of the federal government to be used for the special benefit of any one region or any one state. Nor were the resources of the people to be expended for the benefit of any particular group or any special class of citizens" (The Making of America, p 244). A suggestion for teaching this principle to your family is to "pay" each member of your family a "salary" with play money. Collect "taxes" from each family member and then hand out other money to those that you feel "need" the extra money. A replay situation would be to have each family member pay a certain amount towards the house payment, food, and other family needs.

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!