THE UNITED STATES
CONSTITUTION
1. PREAMBLE
THE PREAMBLE
 On
your white shee underline
all the words as they are
shown and number each
purpose as shown.
THE PREAMBLE
We the people of the United States, 1
in order to form a more perfect union,
2 establish justice, 3 insure domestic
tranquility, 4 provide for the common
defense, 5 promote the general welfare
and 6 secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity, do ordain
and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.
PREAMBLE VOCABULARY
 Copy
the vocabulary word, the
synonyms and the definitions.
UNION
 Blending,
coming together,
combination
 The act of joining together
people or things
ESTABLISH
 Create,
start, begin, set up
 To start or set up something
that is intended to continue
JUSTICE
 Fairness,
fair play, morality
INSURE
 Make
certain, make sure
 To make sure something will
happen
DOMESTIC
 home,
household, family,
national, internal
 Happening within one country
TRANQUILITY
Peaceful,
calm, quiet
COMMON
 General,
universal, shared,
everyone’s
 Belonging to, or shared by two
or more people or things
PROMOTE
 Endorse,
encourage, support,
sponsor
 To encourage the growth and
development of something
GENERAL
 universal,
common, wide-
ranging
 Including all or nearly all the
members of a group
WELFARE
 well-being,
success
health, security,
LIBERTY
 Freedom
independence
 the state of being free within
society from oppressive
restrictions
POSTERITY
 future
generations
ORDAIN
order, proclaim, command, establish
 To order or establish something
formally, especially by law

THE PREAMBLE
WE THE PEOPLE of the United States,
in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common
defense, 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.
We, the people of the United States
All the citizens
of the United
States
in order to form a
more perfect Union,
To come together
and make things
better for
everyone who lives
in our country
Establish
Justice
To make things
fair for all people
insure domestic Tranquility,
To make sure we
can all have a good
life and get along
with one another
Provide for
the common
defense,
To provide
protection
to everyone
Promote general welfare,
To make life good
for everybody by
providing food,
shelter, and safety
And secure the blessings of Liberty
To protect our
rights and
freedoms and not
let anyone take
them away
To ourselves
and
our posterity,
For ourselves and
all our children and
their children and
every generation
to come
Do ordain and establish
this Constitution
To approve of and
begin to follow
.
For the United States of America
Our country,
where we live
ASSIGNMENT
Rewrite the Preamble changing the
underlined words. It must make
sense. Read it out loud to yourself to
make sure. You can rearrange the
words to allow your paragraph to
make sense.
 DUE FEBRUARY 10, 2015
 Assignment Name: Preamble Rewrite

BASIC IDEAS THE
FOUNDERS
INCLUDED IN THE
CONSTITUTION
1. Natural Rights and Higher Law
 Purpose
of government is to
protect the rights of people to
life, liberty, and property
(natural rights)
 Everyone had to obey the state
constitution (higher law)
2. Social Contract
 The
people agree to form a
government to protect their
natural rights
3. Popular Sovereignty
 The
idea that the people
give the government its
power
 The government has no
power unless the people give
it to them
4. Representation
 The
legislature should be made
up of representatives elected
by the people
 1st limited to white property
owning men
5. Separation of Powers
A
government divided into different
branches to keep powers separated
 Legislative Branch-law making
 Executive Branch-enforces laws
 Judicial Branch- interpret the law,
determine the constitutionality of
the law, and apply it
6. Checks and Balances
 One
branch makes sure the other
branch is not abusing their powers
 In the legislature there were usually
two houses that kept checks on each
other
 Voters could elect new
representatives if they didn’t like
the way the government was working
7. Legislative Supremacy


The majority of the governments power is
given to the legislative branch because these
are the representatives elected by the
people
Most didn’t like the idea of giving the
governor (executive) lots of power because
they remembered how the governors
appointed by the king had abused their power
8. Declaration of Rights
 Most
state constitutions
included a declaration of rights
(Bill of Rights)
 List of the basic rights of
citizens
Bill of Rights
Right to vote
 Elections
 Freedom of
speech and
press
 No taxation
w/o
representation


The right to have
An attorney
 A jury trial
 Protection from illegal
searches and seizures
 Protection against selfincrimination
 Protection from excessive
bail and fines
 Protection against cruel and
unusual punishment
