The purpose of a written constitution

Introduction

The constitution refers to a set of laws and regulations that govern the functioning of systems like governments, corporations or even existing partnerships. Constitutions exist either in written or unwritten form. Different governments have embraced the use of both written and unwritten constitutions. An example is the constitution of Britain which is part written and partly maintained as custom and convention (unwritten).On the other hand, the American constitution of 1787 is a written legislation, binding and guiding the function of the USA and its federal structure.

A constitution is a contract, for the American nation, the constitution limits and guides the goals of this nation (or any existing society), to the intentions of the founders. In the South Carolina Vs United States proceedings, the following is said of the constitution: “The constitution is a written instrument. As such, its meaning does not alter. That which it was meant when it was adapted, it means now.”

According to Dennis Goldfield, author of The American Constitution and the debate over originalism, “The constitution is a written document with a social reality.

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” Dennis Goldfield continues, “The constitution certainly defines who we are as a people in a symbolic sense, as do the flag and other symbols of American nation hood.” The written constitution also dictates the particular scene. The set of laws order the political structures and setting of a social organ. Gary McDowell says “ The fact that the constitution orders our politics means that politically, a great deal hangs on the peg of interpretation; to change the constitution’s meaning is to change our politics.

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A constitution sets fundamental laws. It enshrines the protection of equal rights of all individuals.  There exists also the outlay of the duties of responsibilities of these very individuals in the constitution. The American constitution, for example, in the case of Maine State reads as following in the preamble “Objects of government. We the people of Maine, in order to establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for mutual defense, promote our common welfare and secure to ourselves and our prosperity, the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness if the sovereign ruler of the universe in affording us an opportunity, so favorable to the design, and imploring God’s aid and direction in its accomplishment, do agree to form ourselves into a free and independent state by the style and the title of the state of Maine and do ordain and establish the following constitutions for he government of the same.” From this preamble, we deduce that the Maine state constitution was written to establish religious freedom and justice.

Executive summary

The written constitution is best concluded as it appears in the US constitution, article IV, and paragraph 2. “This constitution shall be the supreme law of the land; and judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”

References

1. Dennis J. Goldfield, The American Constitution and the Debate over Originalism. Drake University Publishers (2005), Iowa, USA.