What Are the Words in the Preamble of the Constitution?

The constitution of the United States in front of a flag.
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In just 52 words, the preamble of the Constitution sets out the purpose of the Constitution for the United States of America, a new nation when the Constitution was written in the late 1780s. The Constitution helped to strengthen continent-wide structures of government and regulate some of the relationships between individual states.

1 Preamble Wording

“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.”

2 Preamble Meaning

The Constitution as a whole represented an agreement between the 13 member states on the powers of government and the rights of individual citizens. The preamble provides an introduction to a series of articles laying out how the country would be governed. The Constitution and its preamble went through several drafts before a final version was agreed, and since it became law in 1788 it has been amended many times, although the wording of the preamble has not changed.

Rita Kennedy is a writer and researcher based in the United Kingdom. She began writing in 2002 and her work has appeared in several academic journals including "Memory Studies," the "Journal of Historical Geography" and the "Local Historian." She holds a Ph.D. in history and an honours degree in geography from the University of Ulster.

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