Which document begins with the words “We the People”?

The United States Constitution begins with the words “We the People.”

Those words open the Constitution’s Preamble, which introduces the purposes of the document: forming a more perfect Union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing liberty.

The Constitution was drafted at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 and signed on September 17 of that year. It created the framework of the federal government, including the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

The phrase is sometimes confused with language from the Declaration of Independence or the Articles of Confederation. The Declaration begins with a statement about events making separation necessary, while the Articles created an earlier and weaker national system. “We the People” specifically belongs to the Constitution’s Preamble.