United States Constitution

Back when we were reading Hamlet, I raved about how much attention people pay to it.  Well, it since occurred to me that there are two pieces in this years reading that positively dwarf it, in terms of recent scholarship.  The first is the Bible, which has entire networks of colleges dedicated to studying it.  The other one, is the US Constitution and everything that has come from it.
I won't go through it in detail, as much of the Constitution is the nuts and bolts stuff for how the new government should work.  It should be remembered (and is too easily forgotten!) that the idea of a Republican democracy was radical in the age of monarchy.  Scholars had talked about it for some time, and they had focused on how it went awry back in Greece and Rome.  The Founders were well versed in this and worked hard to avoid the same pit-falls.
The Articles of Confederation were an early stab at non-Monarchical gov't but only in a proto form.  They resemble the Constitution in the same way that scaffolding resembles the building that it is put up around.  I wanted to do a series of posts comparing how the Constitutional Convention fleshed out the weakness in the Confederate model but I really doubt that I'll have time.  (November is a very busy month in my house!)  I will say that for anyone who is curious, it isn't hard to match up the articles and compare for yourself.
I do want to highlight the preamble of the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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 America.

This is the mission statement of the entire Constitutional endeavor.  The Founders hoped that this document would bring the states together into one nation.  They hoped that it would bring about a just and peaceful nation.  One that could defend itself ably and create conditions where men would thrive.  They also hoped that they would ensure the Pursuit of Happiness to themselves and all of their decedents forever.
I should, of course, mention that they were not bringing about a libertarian paradise.  The Constitution enshrined slavery and denied votes to women, to mention two large flaws.  You can argue that it carried the ball as far as it could really be carried in the 1780's and I think that's a reasonable view.