The 1787 constitution and the founding of the United States
The 1787 constitution and the founding of the United States of America
The 1787 constitution is the set of laws and freedoms upon which the liberty of the united states of America is built. It is not just a historic document, but a living code that guarantees certain inalienable rights to all citizens of the united states, and is the first document of its kind in the western world.
The 1787 constitution is described thusly by Wikipedia, which has an extensive article on the document:
The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention (or Constitutional Congress) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later ratified by conventions in each U.S. state in the name of “The People”; it has since been amended twenty-seven times, the first ten amendments being known as the Bill of Rights. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was actually the first constitution of the United States of America. The U.S. Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as the governing document for the United States after being ratified by nine states. The Constitution has a central place in United States law and political culture. The handwritten, or “engrossed”, original document penned by Jacob Shallus is on display at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.
Though the constitution was written and fully completed on September 17th, 1787, it didn’t actually take effect until the following year, 1788. The document it replaced as the basic law of the united states was the Articles of Confederation.
Perhaps the most important part of the 1787 constitution is the preamble, which states “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure 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.”
The idea of a “more perfect union” has resonated through American politics, society and culture since it was written. Establishing justice, as well, has become a political catch-phrase usually used by those who represent groups that are marginalized or downtrodden.
The 1787 constitution also established the three branches of government. The executive branch is the president; the legislative branch is the congress – the House of REpresentatives and Senate; the judicial branch is the supreme court. These three branches act as a system of checks and balances, with the other two restraining the power of the one so as to prevent our republic from falling into despotism.
