The full text — Preamble, all seven Articles, the Bill of Rights, and every Amendment through the 27th — transcribed from the National Archives, with a plain-English summary alongside each one.
“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.”
The Constitution's opening sentence — not a legal rule itself, but a statement of purpose. It explains why the document exists: to build a stronger union than the one that existed under the Articles of Confederation, and to secure justice, peace, defense, general welfare, and liberty for the country, both then and for future generations.
The original 1787 framework: how the federal government is structured and how the document itself can change.
Ratified December 15, 1791 — the foundational protections for individual rights against the federal government.
Amendments 11 through 27, ratified between 1795 and 1992 — everything from abolishing slavery to lowering the voting age.