United States Constitution
More than any other document or treaty, the United States Constitution is the most powerful, highest law within the United States. The US Constitution is the oldest constitution by the federal government that is in use today, put into official writing in 1787. Since the time of its conception, the US Constitution has been changed 27 different times, with the help of the United States Constitution’s amendments. An amendment is a formal change made to law or contract. The United States Constitution, like any other constitution is usually changed because the people change their minds about what they think the government should be doing.
• The US Constitution is made up of a preamble and seven articles, or sections. The preamble does not count as a law like the rest of the articles in the United States Constitution do. Instead, it actually explains the reasons that the US Constitution was written. It is the most well known part of the US Constitution.
• The seven articles in the United States Constitution are the Legislative power, the Executive power, the Judicial power, the State’s Power and Limits, the Process of Amendment, the Federal Power, and the Ratification. All these parts in the United States Constitution make laws about certain things; for instance, the Ratification section of the US constitution states that the new amendments under the United States Constitution would not start until representatives from at least nine states approved the US Constitution.
• Since its beginning, Congress wrote 33 amendment proposals to try to change the United States Constitution but due to the lack of state power, only 27 of those amendments were ratified, or approved. The first ten amendments in the United States Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. Created in 1791, they were made to limit the power of the federal government when it came to controlling individuals.
• There are many facts about the United States Constitution that some people consider to be interesting. For starters, although it is the most powerful legal document that exists in the United States, the US Constitution is also the shortest governmental Constitution ever written at only 4400 words. Another interesting fact is that when it came time for the states to agree on the final draft of the US Constitution, it was the lack of any bill of rights that held up the process. This explains why a bill of rights was quickly ratified into the United States Constitution. Also, when the United States Constitution was signed, there were 4 million people living in the United States. There are now over 300 million.
The United States Constitution has governed the laws of America for over 200 years now. Even though the word democracy does not actually appear in the United States Constitution, many people credit the US Constitution for being one main reason that the United States are generally a thriving country and is run as a democracy.
