"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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." (Preamble) The Preamble states the broad purposes the constitution is intended to server-to establish a government that provides for greater cooperation among the States, ensures justice and peace, provides for defense against foreign enemies, promotes the general well-being of the people, and secures liberty now and in the future. One of the Constitutions' strengths is that it does not go into great detail about how the government should be run. Instead, the Constitution is built on six basic principles. These basic principles are: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, and federalism.
             Popular sovereignty is a notion that political power or the power to govern is derived from the people. As such, the people retain the right to rescind any grant of power to the government. Popular sovereignty is woven throughout the Constitution. In the Preamble, its opening words, the Constitution declares: "We the People of the United States...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. In Article 1, Section 2, number 1, it declares: "...members chosen every second year by the people...". The sovereign people created the Constitution and the government, and this basic principle ensures that it stays that way.
             Limited Government is a system in which government power and actions are limited to help ensure individual liberties and equality under the law. In effect, the principle of limited government is the other side of the coin of popular sovereignty. The people are the only source of any and all gove...