Practice the Preamble!

Third graders, we will be singing the School House Rock version of the Preamble to the Constitution (just the Preamble part) each day this week. Practice it at home so you can sing it without your song sheet, and get ready for National Constitution Day on September 17.


Are you a history buff? If you want to learn all of the details about the writing of the Constitution, check out this non-fiction movie on our website. (This is totally optional; learning the song is required.)

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Watch the School House Rock Preamble Movie

School House Rock Preamble Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

In 1787 I'm told
Our founding fathers did agree
To write a list of principles
For keepin' people free.
The U.S.A. was just startin' out.
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
The things that we should be.

(Speaking) And they put those principles down on paper and called it the Constitution, and it's been helping us run our country ever since then. The first part of the Constitution is called the preamble and tells what those founding fathers set out to do.

We the people,
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 America.

In 1787 I'm told
Our founding fathers all sat down
And wrote a list of principles
That's known the world around.
The U.S.A. was just starting out
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
They wanted a land of liberty.

And the Preamble goes like this:

We the people,
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 America.
For the United States of America...

Note:
The lyrics here have a slightly abridged wording of the Preamble to the United States Constitution. The actual document starts, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..."