ABOUT DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY AND COMMON DEFENSE

Posting 5

(with apologies to J. Duzarf)

To the readers:

The next two purposes of the United States Constitution given to us in its Preamble are: “ensure domestic tranquility” and “provide for the common defense.” While many an essay links the latter with the next item—“promote the general welfare” (because of their connection in Article 1, Section 8)—for our purposes, we will consider domestic tranquility and common defense together.

“Domestic tranquility” literally means “peace at home,” which adequately describes what it is. The Constitution sets for the ability of the government to handle disputes that may arise between states. Since the old Articles of Confederation did not have a strong federal government structure, a scenario of a state government to rise up against another state was a real possibility. It did not even have to involve warfare—it could be disputes between states. These inter-state squabbles can be resolved by the intervention of the federal government.

Providing for the “common defense” has been understood as the ability of the government to engage in war or to resolve conflict with other countries through diplomacy. The principle of this is clear, with ongoing discussions as to how it is applied (as is true with many parts of the Constitution).

In short, ensuring domestic tranquility and providing for the common defense seem to embody the fact that, at times, we can and should act as one nation, seeking to solve problems internally and defend our nation from threats externally.

For those who would question this, it should be apparent that, as it has been stated elsewhere, that sometimes we are fifty states and sometimes we are one nation. There are a great many matters in which it is important for individual states to maintain their identity and government. But there are also areas in which it is important to act as the whole. In World War II, Germany did not go to war against Arizona. Rhode Island did not declare war on Japan. The armed forces of our country defend the whole country, not just parts of it.

And it must be realized and admitted that it is in our best interests as a nation to deal with internal rebellion. Fracturing the unity of the states (see Civil War) only weakens us as a country, breaking down our very systems and infrastructure and leaving us vulnerable to those external forces that would take advantage of our weaknesses.

Therefore, two of the stated purposes of the Constitution are to ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense, for the good of our states and for the good of our nation.

by Aplo