Their goal wasn’t to establish a perfect Union. It was to establish a Union based upon perfect ideals.
In September of 1786, as the Constitutional Convention drew to a close, a crowd gathered outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
In the crowd, Elizabeth Willing Powel made her way to Benjamin Franklin. The question she asked and the answer Franklin gave are part of the history of our founding.
“Well, Doctor,” Powel asked, “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
“A republic,” Franklin replied, “If you can keep it.”
Today, almost 250 years later, the question remains. Can we keep it?
To form a more perfect Union.
From the start, the founding fathers faced a Herculean task: To convince thirteen separate states filled with people afraid of centralized government that a national government was sorely needed.
On the heels of the Revolutionary War, a conflict that won America her independence, any move toward centralized government was unwelcome. The Articles of Confederation were proof of that.
Weak and unable to safeguard America in her infancy, the Articles needed to be rewritten. America would not survive without it. Things like National defense, a common currency, and trade with other countries could not be achieved through thirteen autonomous states.
The founders understood this. They knew their task was great. However, they took it upon themselves to address the elephant in the room. As such, they focused their efforts on creating a more perfect Union.
A Union based upon the perfect ideals that had governed mankind since the dawn of time.
The founding fathers were men of faith. They read and studied the Bible and embraced Christianity, and the laws of God revealed in scripture.
They were also learned men who studied the writers of the Enlightenment and embraced the philosophy of John Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau. These men questioned traditional authority, which in their lifetimes was the monarchies that had reigned for centuries. They also embraced the idea that mankind could and would improve through rational thinking and applying logic and reasoning.
With all this in mind, the founders embarked on a journey culminating in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787. During those long, hot months, they debated, compromised, and ultimately decided to scrap the Articles altogether.
In their minds, what America needed most was a Constitution that limited the power of government and safeguarded the freedom and liberty of the people into perpetuity.
What they gave us was a Republic.
A Republic created by the United States Constitution. A Republic established of, by, and for the people, who are protected by The Bill of Rights included therein.
The Preamble to the Constitution, written after the document was completed, establishes the purpose, guiding principles, and ultimately the power behind it.
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.
— Preamble to the United States Constitution
From the onset, the founders knew that establishing a more perfect Union required taking the authoritarian power traditional government had maintained up to that point, and not only limiting it but giving it back to the people. That is apparent in the opening lines of the Constitution.
Perhaps the most important words in the 52-word Preamble are the ones that guaranteed a more perfect Union — “We the People.”
The Preamble introduces and affirms the perfect ideals that form the foundation for everything contained in the Constitution in many important ways.
First, the Constitution is owned, so to speak, by the people, not by the government or any branch of the government. As the founders meant for it to do, the Constitution limits the power of the government. They chose a Republic precisely for that reason — because in a Republic the government derives its power from the people.
Consequently, it is to the people that the government is answerable.
Second, the Constitution is the collective enactment of all U.S. citizens. Citizenship is a prerequisite. To participate in government, to vote, to run for office, and to be protected under its tenets, citizenship is required.
Moreover, it is citizenship that unites us as Americans, regardless of our ancestry, lineage, or places of origin. Becoming a U.S. citizen is a sacred thing that requires understanding our foundations and our Constitution, as well as taking an Oath of Allegiance. An oath that is not unlike the one taken upon being sworn into office, in that it requires a promise to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Third, it is we, the people, who have ordained and established the Constitution. The Supremacy Clause of Article VI declares the Constitution to be the supreme law of the entire nation. It is the written nature of the Constitution that makes it a binding contract between the people and the government. The founders understood this, which is why they chose the words they did.
Finally, it is we, the people, who serve as stewards of the U.S. Constitution. As such, it is we, the people, who are ultimately responsible for its continued existence and its faithful interpretation despite efforts to weaken and dismantle it.
For truly, a more perfect Union has never existed. It’s up to us to keep it.
© 2025 | All rights reserved.
JN Fenwick is a Florida-based former American history teacher and writer. She is the author/editor of In the Eye of the Storm.
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