Who coined the opening phrase “We the People” in the United States Constitution?

Gouverneur Morris coined the opening phrase “We the People” in the United States Constitution.

Morris chaired the Constitutional Convention's Committee of Style, which edited and organized the final draft. Earlier wording reportedly would have followed “We the People” with a list of the thirteen states. Morris replaced that state-by-state opening with the broader phrase “of the United States,” creating the concise beginning familiar today.

The Preamble does not itself grant specific governmental powers. Instead, it states the purposes of the Constitution, including forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing liberty for future generations.

The phrase also expressed a significant constitutional idea: the authority of the new government came from the people rather than solely from the states. James Madison was a major architect of the Constitution and recorded much of the convention's debate, but the wording of the Preamble is associated with Morris's editorial work.