This opening statement is so powerful that to merely skip over it for the "meat" of the document is to disregard the opening ceremonies of every major event in a life. It is to forget the birth of a child, the anniversary of a marriage or the discovery of the continent in the historical context of an American life. While conception of this document was labored over in the Declaration Of Independence and later Articles of Confederation, its birth and that of the nation started with these 52 words. How fitting that every state, the Capitol City of Washington DC and the country as a whole is represented in this founding documents numerical value.
It begins with a statement of whom, "We the People". Nowhere in the history of the world has such a founding document owed to its people its very existence. In every other country on earth any documentation recounting its origins has been given to the people, not created by them. The Constitutional Convention delegates were chosen from 12 of the 13 states to represent their people and their individual state (Rhode Island having sent no delegate). It was we who created this country, the very people who would run it, live under its laws and would preserve it as if it were our own because in fact it was and is our own. "We" would give it life, not have it thrust upon us by others trying to hold us to a preordained station.
Continuing- "...of the United States,"...Notice the word "the" is not capitalized. Until the end of the Civil War the states were referred to as, "the United States are" instead of the now norm of "The United States is". This stems from the idea that the United State(s) was a conglomerate of individual states working in unison for a common purpose, not a centralized national unit divided by geographic bounds. In this we have certainly changed.
Continuing- "in Order to form a more perfect Union,". By no means was perfection the ultimate goal as these men understood perfection would not be achieved, but a more perfect union than that as designed under the Articles of Confederation certainly was achievable. The articles lacked the most basic of provisions for allowing the newly formed Federalized government to fund its own actions. It was charged with maintaining an Army in reserve, but had no way to raise funds to pay for such action. National defense was its most important function and without funds it was destined to fail. It held no real power to legislate with all power reserved for the states. This too was failure in the wait as the common good could not always be negotiated at the state level.
Continuing- "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,". These three subjects provide the very reasoning for the above statements. There was limited power to create and again, fund a Federal judiciary, no provisions by which to insure tranquility, which even today it is a vague reference to "do good and no harm" in essence, and again national defense was underdeveloped. All the more reason to qualify the desire for a "more perfect union". You can not "provide" that which you are unable to fund.
Continuing- "promote the general Welfare,". Now here above all the other provisions in the Preamble do we find the most maligned, misunderstood and most simplistic to understand statements. In the a fore mentioned "national defense" it is preceded by the word "provide". This was one of the only sole responsibilities of the newly formed Federal government. However, the word "promote" is a very different word. If you tell your kids to drive carefully you are promoting their welfare. When you buy them the car for them to drive, you are providing the car to be driven carefully.
When the government funds a research project into cigarette smoking and its possible connection to disease then releases that report to the public, it is promoting the general welfare. When it pays for Health Care it is now providing the General Welfare.
The differences here are stark and the contrast can not be ignored. The Federal government is to do those things to which it are prescribed and nothing more. Promote vs. Provide, is the proverbial apples and oranges.
Continuing- "and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity". The "Blessings of Liberty" are best defined ... as the ability to live without fear of the government bringing upon you undo stress. You should be free to enjoy a life as abundant as you can create without undo stress on the liberty of others. The freedom to create wealth, buy property, build a future for yourself and your children, to make decisions that are best suited to you and your community and to feel secure in those rights of decision. Your wealth should be able to be passed down to our "Posterity" without fine, without confiscation and without shame or guilt.
Continuing- "do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." "Ordain" is an interesting word as is "establish"...The duality of this notion had never before been conceived. That the power granted the Federal Government was merely on loan being sovereign to the states and the people, creates another level of duality. And while Republics were not new to the planet, one in which the people themselves sought to create one in order to provide a meaningful institution to work on its behalf was in deed a new concept.
Power was shared, or better defined as granted, to the newly formed Federal government by the states and people to do their bidding, where in the past this power was "granted" temporarily to the people from the ruling classes.
We are a dichotomy of terms. A singular nation of individual states governed by the population that retains as its sovereign right the lending for a time their personal responsibilities to those duly elected and drawn upon from that same population. While it may seem a mess to the uninitiated it is truly a poetry of trust.