Constitution for the United States of AmericaWe 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.
I love the way they wrote in that era. They got the most they could out of every sentence. They had very little wasted words.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing that I find most interesting about the preamble is the verbs preceding the benefits they discuss. ESTABLISH Justice; very definate. They obviously promise to provide justice. INSURE Domestic Tranquility; Seems like they are gonna promise that too. PROVIDE for the Common Defence; That is definate isn't it? PROMOTE the General Welfare; The word promote speaks volumes. It is not definate. It says to me that they will encouage but not gaurantee General Welfare. I wonder why people in todays society think that it is the governments responsibility to fix our problems and hold our hand through the hard times. SECURE the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Prosperity; Secure seems pretty solid right? Liberty is about the Freedom to do what you think is best for you. Sometimes it is not the right decision but you and only you should pay the price for your mistakes. If the consiquences of bad secisions are not great you will never learn to make better decisions. I think our founder knew that.
I will post soon, just joined- going to VA Hospital in Dallas this morning...take care.
ReplyDeleteThis is Jonathan
ReplyDeleteAll the things you mentioned are indeed definite. They were included as a means of establishing the purpose of the forthcoming document. The constitution, as it was signed, was enough; and it worked well prior to what I consider to be America's first real turning point: the Marbury v. Madison decision, and as a consequence, the continued unconstitutional usurpation of power.
ReplyDeleteMy time is limited, but I look forward to reading comments and continued posts by James. Good evening everyone!
I was hoping to get more feedback from all of you. I don't want to leave the preamble alone because the next several lines a little boring. Get some of your liberal friends to join my blog so that we can have some fun and maybe open a mind or two.
ReplyDeleteI think the preamble is the most overlooked portion of the Constitution. But in my opinion in those short 59 words the Founding Fathers lays out the entire foundation of the government's purpose. If people were to read it more and carefully study the Preamble they would see that the government was meant to be limited so much that it was to be basically disabled.
ReplyDeletePeople talk all the time about how our government is so congested and there is no efficiency, and I truly believe that the Founders intended for the Government to be inefficient. And the Preamble proves it in my opinion
A friend of mine is having technical difficulties with blogging right now. I felt it important to pass on her post.
ReplyDeleteMelinda Parker
James, I'd hoped to comment on your blog, but for some reason was unable to. I'll leave my thoughts here, ok?
James, what an interesting yet, I'd agree, true take on the verb linked to the benefit discussed. I also appreciate that you rightl...y defined them as "benefits" extended, and not "rights" gained. To a people, long removed from a true understanding of our National Constitution, the belief in what constitutes "responsibilities of Government" and "privileges afforded the People" becomes abstract, doesn't it?
The preamble, like any thesis, establishes the intent of the Framer, and sets the course of the document to come. In reading the preamble, I cannot escape the thought that, just as the Founding Fathers sought the benefit of all people, so they intended the participation of all people as well... DOMESTIC tranquility, COMMON defense, GENERAL welfare, OURSELVES/ OUR posterity, etc.
Herein is the rub, James. The Constitution DOES become a living document INASMUCH AS IT'S ORIGINAL INTENT IS HELD TO! If ever it is removed from it's intended purpose, it becomes but another lifeless page of meaningless words.
Our Nation suffers not only from a lack of Constitutional understanding, but a willingness to gather around, and invest collectively, in adhering to it's principles.