Which U.S. founding document, remembered in America250, begins with the words “We the People”?

The United States Constitution begins with the words “We the People,” its famous opening phrase.

These words start the Constitution’s Preamble, which explains the document’s broad purposes: forming a more perfect Union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing liberty. The Preamble introduces the Constitution but does not itself create specific governmental powers.

The Constitution was drafted in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and signed on September 17 of that year. It replaced the Articles of Confederation, which had created a weaker national government. The new Constitution established the federal government’s three branches: Congress, the presidency, and the federal judiciary.

A common mix-up is to attribute “We the People” to the Declaration of Independence. That document instead begins with a philosophical statement about political separation and natural rights. The Constitution became effective in 1789 after ratification by the required number of states.