American Government Study Guide

Chapter 2: The Preamble to the Constitution

Overview The established purpose at the beginning of the preamble is to “form a more perfect union”. In order to obtain achieve this purpose, the Constitution must have a set of goals to reach by the time it is rati�ied. These goals served as the outline for the constitution. Learning Objectives 1. Identify the goals the Preamble of the Constitution. 2. Understand the importance of these goals to the nation’s future. 3. Understand how these goals were impacted by the Articles of Confederation. 2.1 Establish Justice Citizens of any state, nation, or empire in history all crave a sense of justice being served. The Pream- ble of the Constitution includes establishing justice �irst to achieve the purpose of forming a more perfect union. Without justice, a system based upon the rule of law falls apart. So what does justice look like? By empowering the people with the choice of whom represents them, people have a say in their own justice system. The �irst way is to establish a set of laws and conse- quences that all citizens must abide by to live in the United States. Laws established for federal, state, and local levels that all serve the needs of citizens within each jurisdiction. Each level will also have enforcement that should objectively carry out and execute the laws within each jurisdiction. Secondly, once the enforcement of a law has been carried out, a judicial system needs to be in place to objectively interpret the law. The judicial system is the backbone of justice in any government system. Later in this study guide, you will see exactly how the law is interpreted, not only in criminal cases, but civil cases as well. 2.2 Insure Domestic Tranquility The idea of domestic tranquility is beautiful to imagine, but as human beings trying to coexist from different background and experiences, it can be very dif�icult to realize. Moreover, how does a gov- ernment provide support to provide this tranquility to its citizens? How does law enforcement work to keep law and order without sti�ling the rights of everyday citizens? Law enforcements job is two-fold. First, law enforcement of�icials are trained to maintain law and order to enforce the laws equally regardless of whom that citizen is or where they are from. Secondly, law enforcement is there to protect the rights that have been given to those citizens and not infringe

©2020

Achieve Test Prep

Page 10 of 32