“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 Constitution is the guiding document for all government activities. At the federal level, The Constitution frames the government. At the state level, The Constitution establishes the rights of states to self-govern while preserving the strength of the “more perfect Union.” At the individual level, The Constitution delineates the rights of the people.
All of these aspects of The Constitution are meant to coexist. These elements do not contradict, nor do they leave room for interpretation. The Constitution was the culmination of the work of intelligent people who were leaders, scientists, scholars, and business owners. These people did have some prejudices that were commonplace in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Over time, The Constitution has been relieved of those prejudices.
An important aspect of The Constitution is the definition and preservation of rights. People often think The Constitution places boundaries on rights, but in fact, it does not. There is only one place in The Constitution where it was used to take away rights, and that was an unfortunate time in our history documented in the eighteenth amendment: prohibition. Fortunately, the leaders of the time realized their error and repealed that limitation on rights less than fifteen years later. This is not a statement about the benefits or evils of intoxicating beverages; this is merely an observation on the history of The Constitution.
The purpose of The Constitution is not to limit rights or imbue power over the people. The purpose of The Constitution is the frame government and protect the rights of the people. Anyone who uses The Constitution or government to levy power over the citizens of The United States of America should be feared. While The Constitution does empower government and defines how the people assigned power as part of the government will act. Most importantly, The Constitution is ordained and established by the People of the United States of America.
We must all understand The Constitution, the government it frames, and the rights it protects. From that understanding, we must then execute our role as the government of The United States of America. So let’s read The Constitution and understand what the framers, authors, and approvers of this vital document were telling us.
The preamble of The Constitution defines the general purpose of the document. While each article speaks to specific aspects of government or rights, we must look to the preamble for general guidance. Begin by understanding, The Constitution is a statement of the People of the United States of America. The Constitution is not a government document meant to explain how people are ruled. The Constitution is a statement by the People of the United States explaining how the government ruled by the People is ordained.
The preamble of The Constitution is the single statement that forms the republic form of government in these United States. That republic is defined in The Constitution and the terms further defined in Article IV, Section 4 which states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.” With this understanding of our republic form of government, those of us who are conscientious citizens, accept the responsibility to preserve this government of the People and protect the individual rights defined in The Bill of Rights.