Let's start with the words.

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,

ensure domestic tranquility.

This is Professor Akhil Reed Amar in a video lecture about America's Constitution.

The lives of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution

for the United States of America.

One sentence, and this, my friends, this one simple sentence, changes everything.

Amar is a professor at Yale University, obviously a person far better informed than myself.

I'm not here to contest him, but I do want to ask the question, is this where the story

starts?

So Nick, okay, when you think about the beginning of constitutions, now I'm talking about the

relatively modern document that lays out the rules of how a government operates, who has

power over what and the rights of individuals, what comes to mind?

We do, the United States.

Right, that's what I thought you would say.

Why?

Because we were the first sort of.

Constitutionally, this is where it all started, it's a new world order.

1787, people getting rights, government getting limits.

I mean, I know there are hundreds of constitutions worldwide right now, and I know that there

were documents like Magna Carta before the US Constitution, but the type of document

we're talking about showed up here first.

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