Social Manifest Destiny and the Preamble

As a Teacher of History, I have so often come across people who have decided that their whole reason to change the very meaning of our Country is to project more meaning into the 52 words at the beginning of the Constitution than the entire Constitution. But we are seeing what I would call a social Manifest Destiny.

If one would recall in the earlier 19th century, many in the United States believe that the United States was destined and divinely ordained by the God of Christianity to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean.

What we are certainly experiencing today is a social Manifest destiny ordained not by God, but by Progressive Liberalism, in the belief that we need to expand governments reached into the very private lives of its citizens

Liberal Progressives are not using the term Manifest Destiny, but found a new one. They’re new term for it is “Mandate of America” in that the Founding Fathers wouldn’t of every dream of cradle to the grave health care or for that matter any umber of social programs that come out of their imaginations.

A example of this is:

“I know Obama will do his best under the current, almost insurmountable odds to fulfill the Mandate of America as summarized in the Preamble to the Constitution... Establish Justice, Insure Domestic Tranquility, Provide for the Common Defense, Promote the General Welfare... Item by item the GOP, starting with Ronald Reagan, has done its best to destroy this mandate and we see the results of this today.”

He has in that short sentence moved the Preamble over the entire seven Articles, and twenty-seven amendments to the constitution, he Has in essence move all of it above the Bill of Rights and has made the Preamble, a Mandate that would made the rest of the constitution irrelevant, if it doesn’t fit within his political beliefs.

He blames Reagan and all conservatives that oppose a over extension of Government into the very private lives of it citizens as anti American. In essence they believe that the Preamble gives the social Manifest destiny to proclaim government control from the cradle to the grave.


The Preamble does not assign any powers to a federal government or provide specific limitations on government action. Due to the Preamble's limited nature, it has almost certainly never been relied upon by any court as the decisive factor in deciding a case, except in apparently frivolous circumstances.

Allot of people I have met. feel that the preamble is a mandate to social Change rather than a testament of the times that the framers were living. They has taken a modern view of it as justification in rearranging the very fabric of this country’s constitution. and society. Going from Gun control to Abortion to a suppose gay rights, they feel that the preamble gives rights that the rest of the constitution doesn’t give!

The justification for change is and re writing the constitution meaning is the preamble as a mandate to our society without regard to the rights of the individuals and our society. Which the Bill of Rights protects us from.

Had the framers realized what troubles this would have created for our nation they more likely would have said. “We the People, established this constitution for the United States of America!” And that’s it. Liberals and so-called Progressives have so stretch the simple meaning of the preamble to the point that even if we could get ourselves out this mess, it may taken generations to re educate our fellow citizens. why the framers included these words in the Constitution.

The preamble is a introduction to the Constitution, and is much like Introduction to a Novel but doesn’t describe the book. It provides the reasons and purpose behind establishing this government But the laws which governs our nation.   It sets the objectives for our national government., it does not in anyway shape or form. establish new laws, or evens a mandates what these laws should be,?

It’s a list of chapters, much like a book within the document of constitution. However, it has no rights to give, that is left to the Bill of Rights.. Like a list of chapters it gives the following examples of what the government protects the citizens, for example: Justice, Tranquility, Defense. Welfare. but those definitions are left to Politics and society to weed out..

But it is the people that naturally would vote for objectives, so when the person descibez above want his list of proposal's it may not be the ones that the rest of society may want at the time.

Lastly it is a Religious document when it says:

“and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...”

But perhaps the absolute frightening thing is how close this belief is to Manifest destiny and how liberal progressives are using the same logic that 19th century Americans believe. In a way, Anytime a Progressive liberal would want any new social program, they could point to the Preamble and their version of Manifest destiny to try to get it enacted.Another example of how Progressives are Regressives instead!