CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION IN OUTLINE. 204. THE PARTS OF THE CONSTITUTION.-These are the Preamble, the seven Articles, and the fifteen Amendments. The formal division is based on the division of the subject-matter. The Preamble defines the sources and purposes of the Constitution. Article I. relates to the Legislative power. Article IV relates to miscellaneous subjects. Article V. relates to amendments. Article VI. relates to debts contracted before the Constitution went into operation. Article VII. relates to the ratification of the Constitution. The Amendments relate to so many subjects that they cannot be collectively characterized. Most of the Articles, and several of the Amendments, are divided into sections, and most of the sections again into clauses, these divisions being based on still smaller divisions of the subject-matter. Thus, Article I. relates to the Legislature; Section 8, of that Article, to the powers of Congress, and Clause 2, of that Section, to borrowing money. 205. THE PREAMBLE.-We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 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, ( 115 ) This declaration is commonly called the preamble of the Constitution, but it is also sometimes called its enacting clause. A preamble gives reasons why a resolution or act is passed; it is no part of the resolution or act, and, since it does not resolve, enact, or ordain anything, is not an essential part of the document. An enacting clause, on the other hand, gives the act all its force and effect. If the above declaration were nothing but a preamble, it could be cut off without affecting the Constitution; but, as it is, that could not be done without leaving the Constitution a headless trunk. Nothing would then be ordained or established. We are therefore to regard this clause as an integral and necessary part of the Constitution itself. 206. THE ELEMENTS OF THE PREAMBLE.-These are three in number. (1) The name of the nation, people, or sovereign power that acts or speaks: We, the people of the United States. (2) The ends or objects for which the sovereign power acts or speaks: (a) In order to form a more perfect union; (b) to establish justice; (c) to insure domestic tranquillity; (d) to provide for the common defence; (e) to promote the general welfare, and (ƒ) to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. (3) The thing done: Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The second of these divisions is an admirable statement of the objects of civil government. 207. THE SOURCE OF THE CONSTITUTION.-There has been much contention as to the origin and nature of the Constitution. The preamble is decisive as to the sovereign power that ordained it and so as to its source. In the two most solemn crises of their history, the American people have spoken the same authoritative language. In 1776 they said, by their representatives, "We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of |