common defense

6. What does the phrase 'provide for the common defense' mean?

'Common' has many meanings, including 'ordinary', 'widespread', 'frequent', 'general', 'universal', 'familiar', 'collective' and 'regular'. In this context, 'common' means 'general' or 'shared'.

What does 'defense' mean? It means 'protection' or 'security'.

So the phrase means 'to supply general protection' or 'to make sure that everyone in the United States is safe'

The framers of the Constitution (as the authors are usually known) were particularly concerned about attack/invasion from a foreign country, such as England.

7. What does the phrase 'promote the general Welfare' mean?

'To promote means' [Look it up!] to encourage, support or endorse.
'General' means [Look it up!] universal, all-purpose, or common.
'Welfare' means [Look it up!] well being, benefit, happiness, or what is good.

As a result, (so) the phrase 'promote the general Welfare' means to 'encourage universal well being'. In other words, 'for the good of all people' (living in the United States).

8. What about 'secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity'?

To 'secure' means [Look it up!] means to obtain or acquire and keep safe (maintain).
'Blessings' [Look it up!] are good things.
'Liberty' means [Look it up!] freedom.
'Posterity' means [Look it up!] the future.

Thus, 'secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity' means to 'obtain and keep the good things that freedom gives us, now and forever'.

9. The document ends with the clause: 'do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America'. What does it mean?

To 'ordain' [Look it up!] is defined in context: it means to establish (or institute or begin or to create).

The statement means that these authors are proclaiming that this document is the basis of the law by which the country will govern itself.

After the Constitution was finished, and all the interests of the various states were considered, the framers looked back at their work and realized that they had left out some important things.

The document they created detailed what the national (called 'federal') government could and could not do. However, anything not specifically stated in the Constitution as something the federal government could do was left to the individual state governments to do.

The Constitution divided the federal government into three branches: executive (the President and Vice President and all the agencies of the government), legislative (the Congress, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate) and judiciary (the Supreme Court), the better to protect citizens for tyranny (abuse of the law).

But they forgot to state what rights the people had. Thus, they wrote the first ten amendments (additions which were 'ratified' or added on December 15, 1791) to the Constitution, which are known as "The Bill of Rights".