The Preamble (Version A)
This is the Preamble to an early version of the Constitution that was later rejected. It was written in the summer of 1787.
We the People of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity.
The Preamble (Version B)
This is the final text of the Preamble to the Constitution. It was finalized in September 1787. The Preamble appears before the main text of the Constitution. The Constitution lays out the three-part system of government of the United States. It replaced an earlier governing document called the Articles of Confederation.
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.
An Act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.Â
Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,Â
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having so come after the expiration of said ninety days to remain within the United States.Â
SEC. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and land or permit to be landed, any Chinese laborer, from any foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer so brought, and maybe also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.Â
SEC. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese laborers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and who shall produce to such master before going on board such vessel, and shall produce to the collector of the port in the United States at which such vessel shall arrive, the evidence hereinafter in this act required of his being one of the laborers in this section mentioned; nor shall the two foregoing sections apply to the case of any master whose vessel, being bound to a port not within the United States, shall come within the jurisdiction of the United States by reason of being in distress or in stress of weather, or touching at any port of the United States on its voyage to any foreign port or place: Provided, That all Chinese laborers brought on such vessel shall depart with the vessel on leaving port.Â
SEC. 4. That for the purpose of properly identifying Chinese laborers ... the collector of customs of the district from which any such Chinese laborer shall depart from the United States shall, in person or by deputy, go on board each vessel having on board any such Chinese laborers and cleared or about to sail from his district for a foreign port, and on such vessel make a list of all such Chinese laborers, which shall be entered in registry-books to be kept for that purpose, in which shall be stated the name, age, occupation, last place of residence, physical marks of peculiarities, and all facts necessary for the identification of each of such Chinese In case any Chinese laborer after having received such certificate shall leave such vessel before her departure he shall deliver his certificate to the master of the vessel, and if such Chinese laborer shall fail to return to such vessel before her departure from port the certificate shall be cancelled.Â
SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.Â
SEC.15. That the words "Chinese laborers", wherever used in this act shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining.
Students will be able to identify significant changes in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.Â
Students will choose which version of the Preamble best matches a series of historical understandings about the U.S. Constitution.Â
Students will explain what details helped them match the correct version of the Preamble to each historical understanding.
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Among the many debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the changes between the first and final draft of the Constitution are easy to overlook. A "Committee of Style", headed by Gouverneur Morris, presented a final draft in September 1787.  As historian Carol Berkin notes, "Awkward phrasing and stilted language had been transformed, and crisp sentences had replaced overly wordy ones." Where there had been 23 articles before, the final draft was condensed into seven.Â
Of these changes, perhaps the most eloquent are those found in the Preamble. While the early draft simply noted that the Constitution was ordained, declared and established by the people of the thirteen colonies, the final draft had "emotional force" and a "nationalist vision."Â
Step 1: Project or display the following historical understandings about the U.S. Constitution and read them out loud to students:Â
The Constitution is an agreement between the national government and the people.Â
The Constitution sets up a government that will make sure all citizens are treated fairly.Â
The Constitution sets up a national government rather than separate state governments.Â
Tell students that we can see these ideas expressed in the first words of the U.S. Constitution. Pass out Versions A and B of the Preamble and/or project them on overhead or screen. As a class, read the two documents out loud together, either with student volunteers or having students follow along silently as the teacher reads. Be sure to read the text of the Preambles as well as the short descriptions (in italics) that precede the text. The teacher may want to have students underline or highlight unknown words or phrases in the text.Â
Step 2: (Optional) If the teacher decides it is helpful with his or her students, pass out “Reading the Constitution†which provides some scaffolds to help students break down the final version of the Preamble (Version B). Working independently or in pairs, students should use the primary source document to complete the worksheet. There is space for students to define unknown words or phrases, either by consulting a dictionary or the teacher or other students. Before moving on to the next step, the teacher should review the correct answers to the worksheet and point to details in the text that help students arrive at the correct answers.Â
Step 3: Pass out the worksheet “Understanding the Preamble.†Students should complete it individually. Students may use the primary sources and, if they completed it in Step 2, the scaffold worksheet. The teacher should review the directions with the students before they complete the worksheet.
Step 4: (Optional) The teacher may choose to discuss student responses on "Understanding the Preamble." Â Specifically, the teacher may want to probe students' observations about the changes between the two drafts and what students feel is important about those changes. Â
I offer a new section, which has already been reported upon favorably by the Judiciary Committee:
And be it further enacted, that all acts of Congress relating to naturalization be, and the same are hereby, amended by striking out the word "white" wherever it occurs, so that in naturalization there shall be no distinction of race or color. Â
You are now revising the naturalization system, and I propose to strike out from that system a refinement disgraceful to this country and to this age. Â I propose to bring our system in harmony with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Â The word "white" cannot be found in either of these two great title deeds of the Republic. Â How can you place it in your statutes? Â
We especially insist that the property of the chief rebels should be seized and [used for] the payment of the national debt, caused by the unjust and wicked war they instigated…
The whole fabric of southern society must be changed and never can it be done if this opportunity is lost. Without this, this government can never be, as it has never been, a true republic…
Nothing is so likely to make a man a good citizen as to make him a freeholder [landowner]. Nothing will so multiply the production of the South as to divide it into small farms. Nothing will make men so industrious and moral as to let them feel that they are above want and are the owners of the soil which they till… No people will ever be republican in spirit and practice where a few own immense manors and the masses are landless. Small and independent landholders are the support and guardians of republican liberty.
AMENDMENT XIII
Passed by Congress on 31 January 1865; Ratified 6 December 1865
Section 1
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
AMENDMENT XIV
Passed by Congress 13 June 1866; Ratified 9 July 1868
Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws…
AMENDMENT XV
Passed by Congress 26 February 1869; Ratified 3 February 1870
Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude…
The petitioner, an American citizen of Japanese descent, was convicted in a federal district court for remaining in San Leandro, California, a “Military Area”, contrary to Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 of the Commanding General of the Western Command, U.S. Army, which directed that after May 9, 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry should be excluded from that area. No question was raised as to petitioner’s loyalty to the United States. . . .
Executive Order No. 9066, 7 Fed. Reg. 1407 . . . issued after we were at war with Japan, declared that “the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities. . . .”
Like curfew, exclusion of those of Japanese origin was deemed necessary because of the presence of an unascertained number of disloyal members of the group, most of whom we have no doubt were loyal to this country. It was because we could not reject the finding of the military authorities that it was impossible to bring about an immediate segregation of the disloyal from the loyal that we sustained the validity of the curfew order as applying to the whole group. . . .
We uphold the exclusion order as of the time it was made and when the petitioner violated it. Compulsory exclusion of large groups of citizens from their homes, except under circumstances of direst emergency and peril, is inconsistent with our basic governmental institutions. But when under conditions of modern warfare our shores are threatened by hostile forces, the power to protect must be commensurate with the threatened danger.
Korematsu was not excluded from the Military Area because of hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire, because the properly constituted military authorities feared an invasion of our West Coast and felt constrained to take proper security measures, because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily, and finally, because Congress, reposing its confidence in this time of war in our military leaders—as inevitably it must—determined that they should have the power to do just this. There was evidence of disloyalty on the part of some, the military authorities considered that the need for action was great, and time was short. We cannot—by availing ourselves of the calm perspective of hindsight—now say that at that time these actions were unjustified.
[no address]
18 January 1937
[Dear Mrs. Roosevelt]
I…was simply astounded to think that anyone could be nitwit enough to wish to be included in the so called social security act if they could possibly avoid it. Call it by any name you wish it, in my opinion, (and that of many people I know) is nothing but downright stealing…
The president tells [businesses] they should hire more men and work shorter hours so that the laborers, who are getting everything now raises etc. can have a “more abundant life.” That simply means taking it from the rest of us in the form of taxes or otherwise.
Believe me, the only thing we want from the president…is for him to balance the budget and reduce taxes. That, by the way, is a “mandate from the people” that isn’t getting any attention.
I am not an “economic royalist,” just an ordinary white collar worker… Please show this to the president and ask him to remember the wishes of the forgotten man, that is, the one who dared to vote against him. We expect to be tramped on but we do wish the stepping would be a little less hard.
Security at the price of freedom is never desired by intelligent people.
M.A. [female]