This lesson had the privilege of having an American visitor. Her name is Leann and she told us about the American Constitution. I was really impressed by what she taught us and the handouts and funny artworks she used to make us engaged. For instance, she made us read the constitution written on license plates for cars. (Try and read on the image above)It was also interesting to listen to a native English speaker, as her English is closer to how we aim to speak than our English, which is more or less influenced by Norwegian. We focused merely on the preamble, the first part of the constitution. It consists of as little as 52! Here it is:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, ensure the blessings of liberty and our posterity, establish this constitution for the United States of America."
It is difficult to see what the content of the constitution really is because the meaning behind it is compressed into short sentences. Today we saw what each line of the preamble stands for and what history lies behind them:
“We the people of the United States”
- Americans is a proud people and with this they want to ratify their unity.
“in order to form a more perfect union”
-Prior to the constitution the Articles of confederation held America together as a state. The five commissioners who wrote the constitution were only supposed to improve this confederation. Nevertheless they wrote a new American constitution.
“establish justice and ensure domestic tranquillity”
- There shall be tolerance amongst people to provide justice and people shall feel calm and safe in their homes.
“provide for the common defence”
- The United States of America shall have an army to protect the nation.
“promote the general welfare”
- The goal must always be to better the everyday life of the American citizens.
“ensure the blessings of liberty and our posterity”
- Take care of our freedom and bear in mind the America which is to be delivered to our children.
“establish this constitution for the United States of America.”
- This speaks for itself. However, the fact that the American constitution is the eldest constitution still in use today is quite interesting!
