Constitution Archives - The Founding Project

The Constitution of the United States: An Exact Transcription

May 31, 2023 TFP Staff 2

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription Note: The following text is a transcription of the Constitution as it was inscribed by Jacob Shallus on parchment (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original. 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. Article. I. Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which […]

Ratification: The U.S. Constitution’s Fight for Survival

January 18, 2023 thefpAdmin 0

Ratification: The Need The path to ratification of the U. S. Constitution was paved with lessons learned, obstacles and debate. America was floundering. They had won the war to be free of the oppression of a king, but were losing the battle to organize a thriving nation. Strongly opposed to any type of strong central government, the Founders organized America as a confederacy. The Articles of Confederation were adopted on November 15, 1777 and its ratification was completed on March 1, 1781. The idea of a weak central government and strong State governments appealed to every American citizen, who bravely fought for America’s freedom from the King of England. But, following the ratification, reality was […]

The Principles of Constitutional Interpretation

December 19, 2022 Clay Blanche 2

Principles of Constitutional Interpretation People attempt to interpret the principles of the Constitution (constitutional interpretation) and get it wrong because of faulty technique or trying to bend it to their own agenda. Read below and let’s explore a better understanding of the Constitution… I studied Pre-Constitutional Law and Political Science at Texas A&M and most of my information is from my time in pursuit of my degree. Remember: If the Constitution was simple and easy to understand, we wouldn’t need the Supreme Court! Constitutional interpretation, or constitutional construction, the term more often used by the Founders, is the process by which legal decisions are made that are justified by a constitution, although not necessarily correctly. […]

The PreAmble: Bill of Rights

November 17, 2022 thefpAdmin 2

The PreAmble to the Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights was a specifically negotiated and planned addition to the U. S. Constitution as an assurance to guard against the federal government from becoming too powerful and to protect Individual Rights and there is importance to its PreAmble. The focus of the Bill of Rights is usually made upon the ten Amendments to the U. S. Constitution, which comprise the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights are the only amendments to the Constitution planned with a PreAmble and presented and ratified as a group of ten amendments. This PreAmble notes the purpose of the Bill of Rights and refers to the Fifth Article of […]

Civics and The Protection of Freedom

October 28, 2022 Maggie Dine 0

Civics: Americans Can Be Outdone by Immigrants Civics and the U. S. Citizen The Founding Fathers of the United States of America most deliberately and brilliantly made Individual Rights the shining star of the Constitution. It was the absolute sticking point for every Founding Father and a critical element of the U.S. Constitution. It is the Individual Rights recognized as indestructible by man or government that makes the United States a Constitutional Republic and specifically guards against any other form of government from monarchy to simple democracy or majority rule. The Constitution boldly declares that these Individual Rights are iron clad. They cannot be chipped, changed, challenged, chopped or cheated away from citizens. The Big […]

The Six Basic Constitution Principles

October 25, 2022 thefpAdmin 0

The Key Principles Powering Our Freedom The U.S. Constitution was constructed with Six (6) Basic Principles in Mind. It is these basic guides that kept the authors of the Constitution on track and guided the content of the world’s greatest document of real freedom. Popular Sovereignty: Popular Sovereignty means “peoples’ rule” or that only the people empower the state or nation. “We the People”–the words at the beginning of The Constitution of the United States of America introduces popular sovereignty in the Constitution’s Preamble or introduction. The government of the United States was established by The People and the U. S. government derives its power solely from The People, the citizens of the United […]

Our Constitution: America’s Legal Conservator of Natural Law

October 5, 2022 jhenderson 0

Conserving Natural Law In Law III of his Laws of Conservation and Energy, Sir Isaac Newton concluded “To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.” This best defines a political term of the same root word, conservatism, as the adherence according to Russell Kirk “to custom, convention, and continuity” through the spices permeating “the principle of variety.” As Edmund Burke too noted in a letter to Sir Hercule Langrishe in 1792, “We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature, and the means perhaps of its conservation,” though “Conservatives,” opined […]

The U. S. Constitution: Simplified

September 24, 2022 thefpAdmin 5

The U. S. Constitution: Simplied…Abbreviated for beginning understanding or quick reference When you just want to get the general or simplified idea of what is covered, TFP offers an abbreviated version of the U.S. Constitution. Think of this as your “pocket version” of the full Constitution. It is not meant to be a version for legal purposes or study. It is meant to give our members the general idea of each portion of the Constitution for better understanding or a beginning approach to learning about the greatest document of freedom the world had experienced. Look for general definitions at the end of this simplified version. The full, original transcription of the U. S. Constitution […]

50 Ways to Leave Your Freedom

July 18, 2022 Maggie Dine 2

50 Ways to Leave Your Freedom (or How to Lose Your Freedom in 10 Days) Freedom…we talk about it often. It is also a commodity most Americans have always experienced. Americans may even take freedom for granted. We’ve not experienced horrific oppression or living as serfs with overlords. It’s easy to recognize the peasant – lord or king – subject dynamic. But, could we recognize freedom being slowly whittled away from us? We saw how easy it was for movie star, Kate Hudson, to lose her boyfriend in a recent movie, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. After luring a boyfriend, she slowly destroyed their relationship over the course of ten days. Prior […]

Individual Rights and The Smallest Minority

June 5, 2022 Tony Wyman 0

It Should Be All About You, the Smallest Minority… Regardless of your race, your religion, your gender, you are a minority. In fact, you are the only minority that matters. All the others are simply social constructs, ways societies categorize and manage groups of people, ways in which governments are able to prioritize the distribution of resourcee of alt-right “racialism.” or measure the use of force. But, you? You’re different, special and unique. In fact, you belong to a minority so unlike all other minorities that there is an exclusive name for this minority to which you and only you belong: individual. I’m not trying to turn you into a convert of Ayn Rand, the controversial […]