A Preamble to the US Constitution

I'm going to start posting parts of the Constitution on here. I believe it is one of the most important documents ever drafted in the history of the world. Most Americans don't know any of it past the first 3 words of the preamble and a couple amendments. I'll still give my commentary on current events, but I think it's fitting and proper for this blog to contain a series dedicated to the origin of American law that continues to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Anything from the Constitution will be in quotes to distinguish from my commentary, and all emphasis is added by this author.

Thus, following my preamble, here is the preamble of The United States Consititution.


"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."


This is the beginning of the Constitution. It is one sentence, probably a run on by today's standards, yet it sets the standard for the rest of the document. It does not spell out any rules, but is an introduction to what follows. It establishes that the subsequent rules are agreed upon by the people, with the purpose of giving a standard, overreaching set of laws that will bind the States together in a federation, thereby creating a country. The rationales laid out here are very libertarian. They merely mention keeping the Union together by a set of laws that set limits on government power ("..secure the Blessings of Liberty") and providing a "common defence" and "Justice) two of the few acceptable reasons for a government. The clause "promote the general Welfare" is very vague, but I take it to mean allowing the government to mint currency, establish roads, and perform other minor functions necessary to turn a country out of wilderness.