We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect
Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, 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.
| 1. | John Locke, Second Treatise, § 131, 1689 |
| 2. | William Blackstone, Commentaries 1:157, 1765 |
| 3. | Virginia Declaration of Rights, secs. 2--3, 12 June 1776 |
| 4. | Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776 |
| 5. | Vermont Constitution of 1777, Preamble |
| 6. | Vermont Constitution of 1786, Preamble |
| 7. | Records of the Federal Convention |
| 8. | James Wilson, Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention, 11 Dec. 1787 |
| 9. | Luther Martin, Genuine Information, 1788 |
| 10. | James Madison, Federalist, no. 37, 233--39, 11 Jan. 1788 |
| 11. | Charles Pinckney, South Carolina House of Representatives, 16 Jan. 1788 |
| 12. | Brutus, no. 12, 7 Feb. 1788 |
| 13. | Alexander Hamilton, Federalist, no. 84, 578--79, 28 May 1788 |
| 14. | Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention, 4 June 1788 |
| 15. | Debate in North Carolina Ratifying Convention, 24 July 1788 |
| 16. | A Native of Virginia, Observations upon the Proposed Plan of Federal Government, 1788 |
| 17. | House of Representatives, Amendments to the Constitution, 14 Aug. 1789 |
| 18. | Martin v. Hunter's Lessee |
| 19. | McCulloch v. Maryland |
| 20. | James Monroe, Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements, 4 May 1822 |
| 21. | Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1:§§ 459, 462--63, 469--70, 471--76, 482--86, 489, 493--97, 500--501, 506, 1833 |
| SEE ALSO: |
