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.
We all learned about or at least memorized these words in either high school or grade school. Or maybe you remember them from "School House Rock" on Saturday mornings. Regardless, if you are like me, you haven't taken the time to consider their implications. Read through them and then, take a few minutes to read the Declaration of Independence: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=124 paying special attention to the second paragraph.
Next, look over the Articles of Confederation at: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=128.
Finally, take a look at this essay at the following link: http://www.heritage.org/constitution#!/articles/0/essays/1/preamble.
Now provide your thoughts on the following:
What strikes you as significant about the Preamble?
Comment on the interrelationship between the Declaration and the Preamble and contrast that with what you see or don't see in the Articles of Confederation. Try to consider the full scope of what you have read - the literal wording, historical context, the visual aspects of the documents, etc. Feel free to think "outside the box".
If you come upon any other information, please provide a link in your comment and if you respond to another participant, please indicate who you are responding to by using "@name" in your comment.
Lastly, remember to be respectful and civil at all times.
Let the fun (and hopefully learning) begin!
Ok folks, seems like everyone is being too shy so I will start out the discussion.
ReplyDeleteFirst, one has to notice the "We the People" which is significantly larger than the rest of the words. I think this is to make a bold statement that this document is different; it is by the people themselves, not the government. By contrast, The Articles of Confederation begin with "We, the undersigned, Delegates of the States..." which makes it clear that they represent the governments of the various States not necessarily "the people."
Next, unlike The AoC which has no preamble, The Constitution spells out its purposes (there are 6) in the Preamble. The first purpose is to "...form a more perfect union.." which I think is an admission that they didn't get it right the first time with the AoC. The 5 additional stated purposes go on to correct what the Framers realized were the weaknesses of the AoC. Essentially, under the AoC, the country was ungovernable and the remaining 5 purposes, describe in general terms, what this new Constitution was going to correct.
Those are my initial thoughts. Weigh in and let the group know your thoughts!