The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation, under which the national government could not tax, regulate trade, or enforce its laws. Delegates meeting in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 drafted a new framework that created a stronger national government while dividing its power among three branches and between the nation and the states.
This guide walks through the document in order, summarizing what each article says and why it matters today, and links to full entries on each article, clause, and amendment.
Article I vests all legislative powers in a Congress of two chambers, a House apportioned by population with two-year terms and a Senate with two members per state and six-year terms. Section 8 lists Congress's powers, including taxing and spending, borrowing, regulating commerce, coining money, declaring war, and raising armies, and ends with the clause allowing all laws necessary and proper to carry them out. Section 9 limits Congress, protecting habeas corpus and banning bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and titles of nobility, and Section 10 limits the states.
Article II vests the executive power in a President chosen by electors for a four-year term, who must be a natural-born citizen, at least 35 years old, and a resident for 14 years. The President is commander in chief, may grant pardons, makes treaties with the consent of two thirds of the Senate, and appoints officers with Senate confirmation. The President must take care that the laws be faithfully executed and may be removed by impeachment for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article III vests the judicial power in one Supreme Court and whatever lower courts Congress creates. Judges hold office during good behavior, and their pay cannot be reduced, protecting their independence. The article lists the kinds of cases federal courts may hear, guarantees jury trials in criminal cases, and narrowly defines treason as levying war against the United States or aiding its enemies. It does not mention judicial review, which the Supreme Court claimed in Marbury v. Madison in 1803.
Article IV requires states to give full faith and credit to one another's laws and court judgments, guarantees citizens of each state the privileges and immunities of citizens in the others, provides for new states and territories, and guarantees every state a republican form of government. Article V sets out how amendments are proposed and ratified. Article VI makes the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties the supreme law of the land, requires officials to take an oath to support it, and bans religious tests for office. Article VII provided that ratification by nine states would put the Constitution into effect.
The first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 to answer critics who feared a powerful national government. Later amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed equal protection and due process against the states, extended voting rights, and changed how senators and Presidents are chosen and how long Presidents may serve. The most recent, the Twenty-seventh, was proposed in 1789 and ratified in 1992. Debates over how to read the text, whether by its original meaning or as a living document, continue to shape how courts apply it.
The Preamble, beginning We the People, states the Constitution's purposes: to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. It grants no powers itself. The framers then built a government of enumerated powers, listing what the national government may do and dividing those powers so that no branch could dominate.
Continue with the amendments in the Bill of Rights, amendment by amendment and all 27 amendments, explained, or see how the document is changed in how the Constitution is amended.