For the 237th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, the Daughters of the American Revolution offer “Constitution Minutes.” Here is the second. (The Nathaniel Massie Chapter of the DAR offered local events yesterday.)
Constitution Minute – “We the People”
The Declaration of Independence declared that “All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” and stated that the colonies were forming a new country.
Until the people of these colonies declared themselves to be independent of the monarchy in Great Britain, they did not have the right to even frame the Preamble of the Constitution or even consider writing a constitution for a new country, the United States of America. Only a free people endowed by their Creator with these attributes could be “We the People” forming a “more perfect Union” to create a government that would serve them.
Thus, when we recite the Preamble to the Constitution, it is important to affirm we are “We the People.” And, as a free people, we are responsible for our own government. Each day invites us to embrace this responsibility. Every engagement with our community is an exercise of both our freedom and our responsibility.
The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia offers in-depth looks into the document, including the preamble:
“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.”
