Decoding the Preamble: Unraveling the "Why" of America's Constitution

Exploring the Historical Significance, Phrasing, and Modern Relevance of the Constitution's Iconic Opening Phrase

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.

Echoing through the halls of history, these powerful and fundamental marks of ink are etched into the foundation of the great American experiment.  Much like the crack of a starter’s pistol at the start of a race, the introduction to our great nation’s founding comes immediately with a vengeance outlining the source of government power, it's expressed functions and the intent for its purpose. The single sentence has made its mark on American society, with many schools having their students memorize these founding words. I, like many, still to this day remember being an elementary student singing along with Schoolhouse Rock on this very subject. As we start our journey into dissecting this, or arguably THE, foundational document of these United States, we must start no where else then the beginning; the Preamble to the US Constitution.

Historical Background

As Justice Joseph Story noted in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833), the true nature of the preamble is, “to expound the nature, and extent, and application of the powers actually conferred by the Constitution.” The Supreme Court in the 1905 case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts echoed the sentiment by claiming the preamble, “indicates the general purposes for which the people ordained and established the Constitution.” In fact, a preamble introducing many important legal documents of the time was very common. English laws at the time, including the Habeas Corpus Act (1679), the Bill of Rights (1689) included ramble statements to explain the reasoning for the law. When the colonialists began their struggles against the oppression of the Crown, one of their first resolutions, the Declarations and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (1774), they included a preamble detailing their explicit issues with their current British government. The Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Articles of Confederation (1777) had other similar preambles leading into their documents.

During the Convention’s Committee of Detail in late July 1787, Edmund Randolph of Virginia convinced the committee that the preamble should be limited to two concepts, why the Articles of Confederation was insufficient, and why the “establishment of a supreme legislative[,] executive[,] and judiciary” was necessary. The initial draft of the Constitution as released by the Committee of Detail on August 6, 1787, this draft stated: “We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity.” However, it was after the Committee of Style in September 8, 1787 that recorded this text into the now ubiquitous “We the People…” form we all know.

We the People of the United States

This phrase, though seemingly obvious, was not met with uniform agreement in the halls of the Philadelphia Convention. Anti-Federalist Patrick Henry instead argued for the language of “We the Staes” in avoidance of a tyrannical majority rule.

“Who authorized them to speak the language of We, the people, instead of We, the States? States are the characteristics and the soul of a confederation. If the states be not the agents of this compact, it must be one great, consolidated, national government, of the people of all the states.” - Patrick Henry

James Wilson fired back saying, “all authority is derived from the people” and that “people have a right to do what they please with regard to the government.” Edmund Pendleton said, “who but the people can delegate powers? Who but the people have a right to form government?” Finally, John Marshall told Mr. Henry that all governments, both federal AND state, “governments derive powers from the people,”eventually leading to the ratification of the phrase and agreement that the people are the formation of the government and the source of its authority. The ultimate source of authority for the powers enumerated in the following text was clearly outlined as the citizenry of the United States.

In Federalist 39, Madison furthered this concept by arguing that the Constitution did not create a truly national government because, “its jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuary and inviolable sovereignty over all other objects.”

In Order to Form a More Perfect Union

The shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation (a document we will drive into in greater depth at a later date) were clear to the new Americans at this time. Individual states had their own currencies, there was no way for the states to settle war debts, an impossibly high 9/13 (nearly 70%) consensus was required to pass any laws and there was so much leeway due to the very weak powers of the government, that the states were incentivized to operate in their own best interest even if that opposed the national interest. Shay’s Rebellion in 1787 encapsulated the fragility of the federal confederation as the government was unable to deal with a relatively minor uprising inside of its borders and had to rely on private state militia . The ability for the confederation to hold together any sort of union was shown to be a mirage necessitating reform. This new constitution sought to donuts that; to “form a more perfect union” of the states that would be able to carry the country forward into the future united.

Establish Justice, Insure Domestic Tranquility

This document was intended to create a just society. At the time, there was public perception that state governments, not subject to checks and balances that would be assigned federally, would be free to violate the rights of individuals through tyranny of the majority. The preamble outlines that the new government would take an active role in justice and a peaceful country, as opposed to the passive, if any, role the Articles of Confederation outlined.

Provide for the Common Defense, Promote the General Welfare

Multiple federalist papers focused on the idea that ratification was a necessary step in American survival due to threats both of foreign entities and interstate conflicts which disunited America. This language was similar to Article 3 of the articles of Confederation where the states were said to have entered into an agreement, “for their common defense…and their mutual and general welfare.” This new constitution would outline a government sufficiently capable of defending the union, not to repeat the mistakes of Shays rebellion.

Secure the Blessings of Liberty

Liberty, freedom, and the individual nature of inalienable rights were of the upmost importance to the founding fathers. They sought to ensure that it was clear that a government stronger then the Articles would not infringe on this liberty and would instead uphold its blessings for the people. Again this phrasing borrows from Article 3 of the articles of Confederation where, “the security of their liberties,” was a foundational aspect of the compact. Knowing not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, they chose to keep language that was both right and familiar to the people of the time in the opening phrase so there was a sense of continuation or adaptation for the governing principles as proposed to a total overhaul.

Why should we care about the preamble in a modern society

Arguably the most important idea when studying any founding document is why it still matters days, weeks, or centuries later. Continuing a past trend for traditions sake and nothing more leaves blindspots for improvement and fails to identify shortcomings in the immensely fallible nature of the original human beings who created such a document. Constant revisionism on the other hand lacks any consistent basis or weight, as there will be more changes upcoming so the current iteration is temporary and meaningless and fleeting as trying to grasp at the wind itself. So where is the

This was the very critical approach the convention members made of their very own Articles of Confederation. They recognized the issues with the execution and application of the document and deemed it too far gone and began using this new knowledge as the foundation of a new and more perfect union. In the modern day, we must focus on the underlying principles in this document as, for better or worse, many changes procedurally have systematically upended the application of the foundation of the country. So what are the principles in the preamble that we need to focus our government on in 2024; the sole source of government power is We the People, there are few basic roles of government the People have authorized, and the purpose of government is to benefit the People, not the other way around. It is these guiding principles in the preamble that our modern day “People” must to return to and use to hold our elected officials accountable.