A Reader’s Tour of the Constitution: I. Preamble: 'Tell me, Muse, How it All Began'

Abstract

In this essay, the first of a book-length tour of the text of the Constitution, I consider how a close reading of the Preamble - as an invocation of the Muse, as a prayer, as a statutory preamble, and as a modern lyric poem, among other things - might inform our reading of the entire document. Most readers focus on the first three words, We the People, which distracts them from a careful reading of the remainder, which sets out the stated purposes of the Constitution.

One striking feature of the Preamble is that, contrary to the general impression abroad in the twenty-first century, it evinces little intent to create limits on government, but rather uses strong verbs that more readily suggest activity and power as the aims of the new government. Another is what the Preamble does not mention. For one thing, the state governments (much less their rights) receive no mention. The decision to speak in the voice of we the people was historically made late in the Philadelphia Convention; but it was a fateful one.

As stated above, the essay is the first in a series aimed at both legal and non-legal readers who want to spend time with the Constitution's text. Constitutional law begins with a non-textual institution, judicial review of federal statutes, and rarely leads students into a careful study of the text. Citizens, meanwhile, tend to view the Constitution through the lens of their high-school or college classes, usually taught by political scientists. Any citizen, any lawyer, and any scholar could, I suggest, find profit and pleasure in spending time playing with the document's text.

Keywords: Preamble, Constitution, epic