The phrase "WE, THE PEOPLE" has a great importance because it stipulates that the power and authority of the federal government of the United States of America does not come from the various states or the people of the various states, but from an entity that is identified as the People of the United States of America, with the Constitution serving as a contract between the People of the United States of America, the various states, and the new entity: the federal government. The importance of this phrase lies in the idea that the government does not derive its power only from the various states. This became a major contention issue during the Nullification Crisis and the Civil War.
