I return to the question: Who are the People? Surely, it is more than a useful fiction or abstraction.
“We the People” refers to actual people: those who directly or indirectly authorized the adoption and ratification of the Constitution. But in the beginning these were not all the people dwelling in the land. Women were excluded, also slaves, and native Americans who were the original occupiers of the land. Only freeborn males were counted: white, English, and mostly Protestant.
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