The Constitution
Preamble
The Constitution's opening sentence, beginning 'We the People'. It states the document's purposes and grants no power on its own.
In full
Courts have long held that the Preamble confers no rights and no authority; every federal power must be found in a later clause. Its significance is declarative. The choice of 'We the People of the United States' rather than a list of states was itself an argument about where the new government's authority came from.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.