Get NARA Outlining The Constitutions Six Big Ideas 2010-2024

"We the People of the United States, in Order 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 to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of ...

Article 6: The new central government is responsible for working with other countries, including trade agreements and declaring war. States were required to have trained soldiers who could be ready to fight. Article 7: States could choose their own military leaders.

Articles Article I. Legislative Branch. Article II. Executive Branch. Article III. Judicial Branch. Article IV. States, Citizenship, New States. Article V. Amendment Process. Article VI. Debts, Supremacy, Oaths, Religious Tests. Article VII. Ratification.

Referred to as the “supremacy clause,” this article declares that the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the federal government are the highest in the land. While state courts rule on state laws, the federal courts can step in and order changes if the state laws go against federal law.

Article VI of the US Constitution ensures the nation's debts are honored, establishes the Constitution as the supreme law, and forbids religious tests for office. It's the glue that binds the country, ensuring continuity, supremacy, and religious freedom.

Teaching Six Big Ideas in the Constitution - Students engage in a study of the U.S. Constitution and the significance of six big ideas contained in it: limited government; republicanism; checks and balances; federalism; separation of powers; and popular sovereignty.