Question

"We the people of the states of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following constitution for the government of ourselves and our posterity.

Report of the Committee of Detail in the Federal Convention, August 1787, page one
"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."
Report of the Committee of Style in the Federal Convention, September 1787, page one. 1) What arguments would the framers offer for keeping the list of individual states? For replacing the list of states with "the United States"? 2) Consider and compare what each draft explicitly names as the purpose for Constitution. Why might the later draft list "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" when the early draft says merely "do ordain, declare and establish the following constitution for the government of ourselves and our posterity." 3) Can you come up with an example of how one of the goals stated in the final version of the Preamble is carried out by our government today?

Answer 1

The framers of the Constitution would have argued that keeping the list of individual states was important in order to show that the Constitution was a document that was created by the states and for the states. They would have also argued that replacing the list of states with "the United States" would have been more accurate, since the Constitution was created for the people of the United States, not just for the states.

The later draft of the Preamble lists "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" because these were the goals that the framers of the Constitution wanted to achieve with the Constitution. They wanted to create a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for all Americans.

One example of how the government carries out one of the goals stated in the final version of the Preamble is by providing for the common defence. The government does this by maintaining a military and by providing for the security of the United States.