What Is the Constitution?

The Constitution is a document, written in 1787 and amended several times since, that serves to define the system of government of the United States of America.

The Constitution of the United States (sometimes written as the United States Constitution or just the Constitution) is always capitalized because it is the title of a document. It is the supreme law of the United States, and it lays out the framework for the organization of the federal government, including its legal authority and its relationship with the states, the citizens and everyone else in the country.

The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787, when delegates from twelve of the thirteen states convened in Philadelphia, originally, to revise the Articles of Confederation (the first constitution of the United States). Through discussion and debate, they finally came to the decision that they needed more than a revision; they needed an entirely new constitution. The debates and the writing of the document were completed on September 17, 1787.

The Constitution was originally made up of a preamble and seven articles, but it has since come to include 27 amendments as well. The preamble to the Constitution is as follows:

“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.”

Articles of the Constitution

• Article One describes the legislative branch of the U.S. government - the Congress - what powers and responsibilities it has, the two houses, how the states are represented therein, how senators and representatives will be elected, when they will meet, how they will be compensated, etc.
• Article Two defines the presidency - who can be president, how the president is chosen, what the president’s duties are, and legitimate reasons for the president to be removed from office.
• Article Three establishes the Supreme Court and describes the court system, including lower courts, the compensation of judges, and trial by jury. Section 3 of this article defines ‘treason’ and directs how one may be convicted of treason.
• Article Four describes the powers and limits of the states, the rights of the citizens of those states, and how new states may be admitted to the Union.
• Article Five describes the process by which amendments to the Constitution may be made.
• Article Six asserts the authority of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, meaning that state constitutions and laws may not contradict the U.S. Constitution, and that all federal employees from the president right down to the door-to-door census takers will take an oath to support and uphold the Constitution. This article also says that, “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any” public office.
• Article Seven states that the Constitution will be ratified if nine out of the thirteen states approve it.

A few years after the original articles of the Constitution were ratified, ten amendments were added to clarify some specific freedoms of U.S. citizens. These ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights. Since they were ratified, 17 more changes have been made to the Constitution to further define our rights, powers and limits as citizens.

The preamble, the seven original articles, the Bill of Rights and the 17 additional amendments, all together, constitute the Constitution.