The Meaning of the Preamble to the Constitution

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Colonel
Joined
May 2, 2006
"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 Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. In discussions here, this Preamble is often cited and often declared to have no part in the law of the United States. That declaration is not correct -- every word of the Constitution is part of the law of the United States. However, the Preamble neither conveys nor denies any particular power, right or privilege to any person or government. So what does the Preamble actually mean?

The answer to that is simple in concept, but apparently difficult to explain and for people to grasp. The Preamble is the guide to everything that follows.

As such, it answers three distinct questions. These answers are used by the Court to illuminate the intent of the Founders in all the Articles that follow, and in the Amendments that would later be ratified in accord with the Constitution. Those questions are:
  • Who is doing this?
    • "We the People of the United States" are doing it.
  • What are they doing?
    • the People of the United States "do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"
  • Why are they doing it?
    • to "form a more perfect Union"
    • to "establish Justice"
    • to "insure domestic Tranquility"
    • to "provide for the common defence"
    • to "promote the general Welfare"
    • to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity"
The Courts of the United States, starting with the Supreme Court and down through all courts that are subordinate to it and the laws of the United States, use the Preamble to understand the intent of the Constitution and the application of it to all United States law.

Perhaps the most important expression of this principle is found in the 1803 landmark case Marbury v. Madison, where Chief Justice John Marshall extended the principle of Judicial Review that had arisen in North Carolina to United States law: “A Law repugnant to the Constitution is void.

Another way to look at that 1803 decision is the opinion of Madison, Hamilton and Jay in The Federalist Papers: "You must first enable government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."
 
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