University News
Constitution Day: The Foundation
September 12, 2005
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
By Phyllis Farley Rippey, Political Science
The single most important thing to understand about the Constitution is that it is a limit on government power. It is, of course, the blueprint for the design of the American democracy and as such authorizes the exercise of power. Nevertheless, it is a written authorization of government power not so that citizens know what the government can do but so that the government knows what it cannot do. Although a close reading of the document will reveal the nature of government structures, processes and powers, most of what is important for citizens to know and understand about the values institutionalized in the document and reflective of American political culture can be culled from The Preamble; one eloquent sentence rich with reference to the history and political theory in which this nation is rooted. So it begins
We the People of the United States
From this opening phrase we are reminded by the Framers that it is people, not states who have united to form a nation. That it is a people forming a nation and not a monarch doing so also means a democracy is the form of government that the Constitution authorizes. The Preamble precedes the actual Constitution so that the Framers could remind Americans of what had come before and what the new design for government was intended to do. Thus they explained that the document had been written
in Order to Form a More Perfect Union
This statement recalls the fact that the Constitution was our second attempt at designing a government. Little more than 10 years had passed since America had declared independence from England and united loosely under the Articles of Confederation. That first constitution had gotten us through the Revolutionary War but had failed us shortly thereafter. In this moment of reinvention, it was important to remind ourselves of the ideals for which we had fought in that war and the ends of government to which the people were willing to submit. And so, after acknowledging the need for improvement, the Framers noted that an important end of government is to
Establish Justice
In the centuries succeeding the founding, American politics have focused considerable debate on what justice is, allowing the concept to change in meaning to embrace equal rights for many more groups than that of the propertied white males who dominated politics for more than a century after the nations birth. Although the concept lay dormant for most Americans for far too long, its inclusion as a reason for forming our government made it available to future generations as they came forward to assert their claims to equal rights. The new government, then, was to foster a just environment and also to
Ensure domestic tranquility
This phrase reminds us of our commitment to civil society and underscores the fact that we intended to be a nation of laws and not of men. Peace and order would facilitate productive lives and create the sort of environment in which human beings can grow and flourish. Domestic peace alone, however, would not be sufficient for this end and thus the new government must also
Provide for the Common Defense
By charging the national government with this responsibility, the Framers both expected the national government to police our borders and to speak for us a nation in foreign affairs. Perhaps, more to the point, the states were not to play a role in international relations, underscoring the point that the United States of America under the Constitution, unlike that which had existed under the Articles of Confederation, was a nation that was more than the sum of its parts. And as a shepherd of that whole, the national government was to direct its attention to external threats but must also
Promote the General Welfare
In addition to the particular economic interests of the states, there would be a role to be played by the national government in the domestic economy. States could have competing interests that the federal government would have to manage and negotiate as it used its resources and powers to strengthen the economy as a whole. Again, we were to be reminded that it was a nation being formed, not simply an association of states with independent interests. There were, of course, the continuing, specific interests of the states but the general welfare must be attended to as well. Although the fostering of the economic security of citizens was a significant end of government, it was neither the only nor, perhaps, the most important one. The nation that had been born in a bloody revolution, justifying its revolt from the crown by declaring the self-evident truth that all men are created equal, was now reforming its government so that it would
Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity
With this final reason for forming a new government, the framers drew our attention back to the fundamental and overarching American commitment to freedom. So it was that with the signal purpose of limiting government power as a guarantee of individual liberty, the Framers designed a governmental structure that they hoped would serve America for ages to come and concluded The Preamble with the declaration in behalf of the American people that we do Ordain and Establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
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Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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