Original Constitution · 1787
1 / 35The Preamble
The opening sets out the Constitution’s purposes and names the people as its source of authority.
Read the 1787 wording and later amendments in sequence. Some original provisions were changed or superseded; this reader is not a consolidated current-law edition.
Historical text · National Archives transcription
Compare with the Archives transcription (opens in a new tab)We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.