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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.

At only 52 words in length, the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution is one of the most moving and eloquent statements about the nature and purpose of government ever written. At the time of its writing, the concept that government should be established by the people themselves had never before been tried in actual practice.

True, the idea, and much of the philosophical thought that undergirds it, dates far back into the deep recesses of history, but until 1787 it had not been explicitly put into practice.

The most revolutionary doctrine of all, that “We the people” are creating this charter of government, is at the very outset of the Preamble already a stunning departure from nearly all previous forms of political practice. One may search the vast catalog of human history almost in vain for another example of such an expression of the popular will as the generative force behind the creation of a government.

In almost all previous history, government was imposed by force. The Romans, for instance, expanded their empire through military conquest.

The conquered lands accepted the rule of Rome at the points of swords carried by Caesar’s legions. Later, when the barbarian invasions flooded the Roman world, and the Goth, Vandal, Hun and Lombard standards flew over the old Roman estates, the people submitted to the will of the Barbarian conquerors. They did so not because they chose their new masters, but because superior military and economic might compelled them.

“We the People of the United States” severed the long and unbroken chain of submission to force. It is a bold expression of individual sovereignty — the right of the individual to determine his or her own fate. It is an expression informed by and based upon the doctrine of natural law.

Thomas Jefferson clearly explained natural law in three phrases, when he wrote in the Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal,” “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” and “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” 

“We the People” codifies Jefferson's formula and makes it a concrete pillar of an actual functioning government. But the Preamble goes further, and actually gives voice to the means by which a group of sovereign individuals might come together and form a government that can exercise certain powers over an entire nation.

According to the Preamble, through the creation of the new government the people intended: “to establish Justice;” “insure domestic Tranquility;” “provide for the common defense;” and promote the general welfare. How “the people” have the ability to engage in this creative act of governance flows from their natural rights as identified by Jefferson.

Having the unalienable rights to life and liberty means that every person has the freedom to engage in all of the activities necessary to sustain one’s life. This encompasses what can be defined as economic activity — building shelter, making or acquiring clothing, growing food, defending oneself and family and property against theft or destruction, and many other activities. A large part of this activity requires cooperation between people, which points to another implied unalienable natural right: the right to associate with others.

If people have the right to form associations with others for the purpose of growing food, or building shelter or for other purposes intrinsic to the maintenance of life, then they likewise have the right to form an association to create a governing body of law suitable to the purpose of securing the “Blessings of Liberty.”

In the case of the Constitution, the Preamble gives voice to the idea that the people of the United States are choosing to exercise some of their unalienable rights in a collective fashion in order to ensure that Justice prevails in cases where someone’s rights have been unjustly violated, that the nation is made tranquil and suitable for the unhindered continuation and development of Life, that all are equally protected and defended in common from external threat and devastation.  In doing these things, the general welfare of the people as a whole is promoted.

To these noble ends, “We the People” for the first time in history, freely exercised their rights to shake off the chains of slavery and oppression and create something wholly new, the Constitution  of the United States of America.