Preamble to the United States Constitution

The **Preamble to the United States Constitution** is a brief  to the Constitution's purposes and guiding principles. It provides the Founding Fathers' s for creating the Constitution and what they hoped the Constitution would achieve. It was added to the Constitution as an  and was not discussed on the floor of the Constitutional Convention nor was it voted on. Gouverneur Morris, one of the writers of the Constitution, wrote and added it at the last moment.
 
The first few words of the Preamble  "We the People of the United States"  were very different than any treaty or law the United States had ever written before.  For example, the United States' first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, describes itself as "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States," and then gives a list of all thirteen states.  The treaties the United States had signed were the same.  They were agreements between states, not people.

## Establish Justice 
"Establish justice" meant to establish the rule of law. It meant that everyone was equal before the law with no distinction between the status or wealth of a person. With their new government, the Founding Fathers wanted to  (create) justice and fairness.  When the British Empire governed the American colonies, the colonists did not think the government was fair.  For example, Parliament would decide that the colonists had to pay taxes on items like stamps and things that were made in other countries.  The colonists did not have any say in this.

Even after the United States became independent, many of the Founding Fathers thought that the states had too much power under the Articles of Confederation.  They thought the states had taken away people's rights.

For example, during the Shays' Rebellion in Springfield, Massachusetts, the state of Massachusetts:
* Took away the right to *habeas corpus* (so they could keep people in jail without a trial)

## Insure domestic Tranquility 
Shays' Rebellion was still fresh in the minds of the framers. Shays' Rebellion made it very clear that the national government under the Articles of Confederation was not strong enough. Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, led the rebel farmers trying to overthrow the Massachusetts government. The farmers had formed an entire army, which neither the state or federal governments had enough soldiers or money to fight. In desperation Massachusetts offered to pay for a private army to fight the rebellion.  Finally, in 1787, that private army defeated the rebels.  Another Founding Father, Henry Knox, said that Shays' Rebellion convinced many people that the United States needed a stronger federal government.

In general, this part of the Preamble means that one of the new government's jobs would be to make things better for the whole country.  Specifically, this part of the Preamble has to do with the government's powers to tax people and spend money.  It means that the new government will only have the power to tax and spend on things that are good for the entire country. The government will not be allowed to spend money on things that will be good for only a part of the country, or only some people in the country.  The anti-federalists worried that a strong federal government could become tyrannical and take away the rights of individual states, like they thought the British colonial government had done.  They also worried that a government ruled by a President might turn into a monarchy, where the President would become a King and have total power. Because of these worries, the Articles of Confederation talked all about states' rights, and not about individual people's rights. The framers wanted to establish these rights for the people of the United States and their "posterity" meaning all the generations of Americans who would follow.

## Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America 
"Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America" is perhaps the strongest statement in the Preamble. It says in effect that the people made the Constitution and it is the people who give it power.
The Preamble to the United States Constitution, is the beginning of the Constitution.  It is not a law.  Instead, it talks about the Founding Fathers' reasons for writing the Constitution, and what they hope the Constitution will do.

## Notes
## References
## Other websites
* The Preamble (Simple English)
* The Preamble Song (for children)  from School House Rock