The Preamble to the Constitution Quotes
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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure 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.
Context
This line begins the Constitution of the United States (Sept. 17, 1987).
Today's politicians can't even agree on what the New Hampshire state bird should be. It's hard to imagine a time when our nation's Founding Fathers got together and agreed on a set of laws to form the structure of the United States's government. Appropriately, for this time of brief, brief unity, the Constitution begins "We the people…" Those people established justice, tranquility, and prosperity… and the "we" of today have been arguing about it ever since.
Where you've heard it
You've heard this if you had to memorize the preamble to the U.S. Constitution in history class, or if you've talked about any united group of individuals.
Additional Notable References:
- We the people still have a voice on "We the People," the U.S. petition website. If a certain threshold is reached, the White House will respond to the petition.
- The We the People organization "promote[s] teaching and learning about the Constitution and Bill of Rights."
- The New York Times asked "Who are 'We the People'?" in an article about corporations as people.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
This isn't pretentious at all. In fact, the world could use a little more "we" and a little less "us" vs. "them."