What does it mean to be one of We the People?
This is a seriously undervalued and unasked question. Who are we? What exactly does it mean to be in this category? Where did this term come from?
Read the first three words of the Preamble of the Constitution of the united States of America. What do they say? We the People.
Why does it say this? Because the writers of this timeless, one-of-a-kind document were WE, the People living in the area then known as the Colonies. These colonies were under British rule and were structured by them as that was the only societal reference we had at the time. Through the century and half that We the People fought against the tireless onslaught of the King of England with his incredibly well-endowed and endless armies funded with money and resources beyond our abilities at the time, our forefathers were slaughtered by the dozens, their families raped, tortured, beaten and drawn and quartered. Their homes and farms, and businesses were looted and burned to the ground. What little was left was confiscated in the name of the Crown. Among all of this, those that were captured alive were deprived of any form of reasonable trial by jury where the People could determine what was just and fair for penalties for alleged crimes or whether or not any crime at all had been committed.
Any law they tried to pass had to be given Assent by the Crown to be of any effect. Yet another duty the King refused. Through the lack of law, the colonies descended into complete chaos, lawlessness rampant. Since no laws existed without the Assent of the King which he refused to give, there were no laws to hold criminals accountable. With the lack of laws in place, the King could do as he pleased in meting out his idea of justice at will, which he took full advantage of, bending his will to those he favored and ruling with an iron fist in excruciating detail those who failed to find the same favor.
Such were the early days of the colonies. It is important to note these were men of means. Learned men who were well vested and possessed the finer things of life. They were married, had many children, land, businesses and were well-schooled. By today’s standards, these men were rich in every way. But even a rich man has his limits in what he can give up. How far he will go. What price is too high.
See, these men took every last thing they had and fled Great Britian and her lands for a reason. Despotism and tyranny. They could not stand watching as their fellow men lost the things they owned through confiscation by the Crown. Watching them sent into useless battles. Seeing their money taken through heinous taxation and used to support things they and their religious values abhorred. Watching as the King’s men would take their wives and daughters at will to do unspeakable things. Seeing that what passed as justice was at the will of those who were not part of the People, and thus, did not feel the impacts of their actions. The impacts of their decisions.
Enter the Year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five. The year when the People of the colonies had enough. The year they banded together and began to write the incredibly beautiful and timeless Declaration of Independence, later signed July 4th, 1776. Most have never heard of its predecessor, the Lee Resolution, signed just two days earlier, on July 2nd, 1776. This was also the birth year of most of our nation’s military branches.
It was just thirteen years later that the Constitution for the united States of America was written, formally stating that the separate territories of the union recognized a need for uniform governance in certain matters that transcended individual territorial borders. It also addressed that our most common and worrisome threat was an invasion from the sea. So much so that the only branch of military we expressly consented to the continuous existence of was a Navy. Why? Because our primary invasion came from across the sea.
Back to We the People. The importance of these three words cannot be overstated. This was the first time in human history that any People, not under a specific leader, had stood up and claimed their own independence. The first time that anyone had the courage to believe they could stand on their own without a central human leader, regardless of what form that took. The first time that anyone in history had written a document that mirrored the Bible in the same crucial areas that have kept civilizations from killing each other for millennia. The first time the People realized they could state they were the Sovereigns. That they owed allegiance to no one. That they alone had the right to decide what God they would follow and how they would worship. How they would raise their families. What wars they could or would be involved in. How Justice would work. That they could enshrine something so seemingly trivial, though deeply important, as a trial by jury. All these things and more were up to them and the People of the newly formed union of States.
They called out who could and could not serve in government to prevent those disinterested in honor from attaining permanent positions within it.
They demanded only nineteen services from the Congress they created in the first Article.
The second was to align the Executive branch in a manner that complimented Congress while depriving them of the ability to exercise the power of any other branch.
Third on their list was to create a Supreme Court that would cover certain cases, but that was not given jurisdiction over the People, nor was it given permission to hear the cases of the People, particularly with regard to those cases determined by a lawful jury of peers.
The list can go on, but if one reads the Constitution from the point of view of those who wrote it, those who had just endured centuries of being run over by an enforced system of “justice” that only favored the government or the party with the most money, it makes more sense why it’s written as it is. Why government was created and remanded to certain specific issues it had control over. Continued attempts at usurping other areas is why for the tenth Amendment stating that any powers not specifically granted to the government were reserved to the States and to the People. All power is inherent in the People. There is a maxim of law that states: That which one creates one controls.” Since all power is inherent in the People, that which they created (the government) they control.