“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.”
—Preamble to the Constitution
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
—Declaration of Independence
The founders of the United States asserted that governments are instituted among men and justly empowered by the consent of the governed. They crafted the Charters of Freedom – our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights – to begin clarifying our inalienable rights and defining a governance system that allows the people to secure those rights for themselves and to keep them for posterity.
Based on the principles defined in the Charters of Liberty, they began an experiment in governance design and self-rule. After much deliberation, they divided power between Executive, Congressional, and Judicial branches so that the government could not become corrupt and abusive without all three branches of government becoming corrupt. This, they hoped, would serve as a system of checks-and-balances to keep excessive power-grabs under control.
On the final day of the Constitutional Convention Elizabeth Willing Powell of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin “Well Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy? To which he famously replied “A republic if you can keep it.”
In addition to being ink on parchment, the Constitution that we defend:
- Is the top law of the land in a nation under the rule of law
- Is the top law of the land in a nation under the rule of law
- Defines a governance system tasked with making those principles real
- “The Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”