Page:Frank David Ely -Why defend the nation? Sound Americanism... (1924).pdf/19

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“WE, THE people of the United States, in order to


  1. Form a more perfect union,
  2. Establish justice,
  3. Insure domestic tranquility
  4. Provide for the common defense,
  5. Promote the general welfare and
  6. Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”—Preamble to the Constitution.

The form in which the above is arranged sets forth more clearly the six great basic purposes of our forefathers in the forming of this Nation. They were the fundamental and determining reasons why all the Colonies, after over two centuries of individual struggles, found it necessary to form a strong central government in and through which all might endure and benefit.

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