We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic?

Question

What does that mean in present day terms. Where can I find the information

Answer 1

The people of the United States want to form a better country, want justice and want to make sure there is peace among the people in the country. I'm not sure where you'd find a present day translation.

Answer 2

That's the preamble of the Constitution of the United States. Let's break it down:

"We, the people of the United States..." not a dictator, not a king or queen; but John and Jane Q. Public and all their neighbors.

"...in order to form a more perfect union..." obviously means the old union was not perfect so they want to do better this time around

"...to establish justice..." set up a legal system with a uniform set of rules that are supposed to apply to all people equally and guarantee to the greatest degree possible that innocent people will not be thrown in jail for "crimes" they did not commit.

"...ensure domestic tranquility..." set up one centralized government that has authority over all the individual states for the purpose of keeping all the states united and to try and prevent conflicts/wars between the states (didn't work out too well, huh?)

"...provide for the common defense..." establish a standing military that is charged with protecting and defending this nation and all its inhabitants.

"...promote the general welfare..." indicates that the government will be charged with the responsibility of ensuring the citizens are kept safe from harm by disease, natural disaster, act of God, etc.

"...and secure the blessings of liberty..." to guarantee maximum freedom to the citizens.

"...to ourselves and our posterity..." for the Founding Fathers and all the generations that would follow.

"...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Everything before this point talked about what they wanted to do, and this last piece tells how they intend to do it.

Does that help?

Answer 3

I could be simple-minded and give you dictionary definitions of the terms in the Preamble,but let me be a little better if I can. The essential thing about the Preamble to our Constitution is that it is just that--a preamble. What those words meant to the framers were 1. They were replacing the Articles of Confederation,
which had been the governing law of the U.S. up til
then.
2. They were providing a uniform legal code to bring all
the State laws into conformity with the Federal Con-
stitution, thereby assuring equal treatment for all
citizens in matters under Federal jurisdiction.
3. They were giving the Federal government the author-
ity to enforce its Laws--to make them stick.

For the present day, the Preamble is really just a nice set of principles. The Constitution, as it matters today, begins with Article I, Section 1. and ends with the last word of the most recent amendment.

(It's much like the words of the Star Spangled Banner don't have a real connection to our world today, but we still remember and honor them.

Answer 4

It shouldn't be too hard to find the rest of the words, just look up constitution on the search box on one of the search engines like Yahoo! or MSNsearch or Google.

But all that special talk about forming a more perfect Union and so on is more or less just saying, "These are the rules, follow them and hopefully it will maintain a working government." Basically the constitution is a list of rules on what the government can and cannot do so that a balance of freedom and independence/safety and order can be maintained.

Answer 5

Insure Domestic Tranquility....... To see this being taken seriously and carried out in a proud manner, look at President Bush, he has the welfare of this Country at heart..

Answer 6

It means exactly the same thing as when it was written. It is the reasons our founding fathers wrote the constitution, to do these things and enable them to happen. It is still the reason they did it and that won't likely change.

Answer 7

nothing at all