The Constitution

The authors of the Constitution (often grouped with the authors of the Declaration of Independence and called the "Founding Fathers") listed six major objectives they wished to achieve in writing the Constitution:

"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."

The authors did not number the individual goals they were seeking to achieve, but it may be easier to pick them out in this form:

We the People of the United States, in Order to

1. 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.

In some ways, of course, the document was a product of its time: it is not difficult to find specific concrete problems that had arisen for the US, that correspond to each of the objectives listed. However, the general terms which were actually adopted certainly constitute one of the factors that have allowed the Constitution to continue to adapt. There have unquestionably been major political changes in US law since 1789, but the fundamental structure of the federal government has not been radically modified.