What is the purpose of the Preamble beginning with "We the People"?

• A. To describe the powers of the branches
• B. To set term lengths for officials
• C. To introduce the Constitution and articulate its purposes, including forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, and ensuring domestic tranquility
• D. To limit the size of the government

Answer: (C)

The Preamble signals why the Constitution exists and where its authority comes from: the people. It emphasizes popular sovereignty—the idea that the government is created by and for the citizens. It also sets the goals the new government should pursue, describing the purposes the Constitution aims to achieve. These include forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, and ensuring domestic tranquility, along with providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. These lines are about aims and legitimacy, not about granting powers to specific branches or laying out term lengths or limits on government. Those details appear in the body of the Constitution and its amendments; the Preamble lays out the broad purposes that guide the entire framework.