A quarter of a millennium ago, the United States was founded. Unlike other global powers of that era, which were ruled by despotic kings wielding nearly absolute authority over their subjects, the U.S. distinguished itself as the first nation in history to establish sovereignty with its people protected by a system of separate powers among three branches of government. 

Recognizing the need for stability in this novel political structure, the Founding Fathers believed that the rights and obligations of its citizens and institutions should be firmly rooted in law, rather than subject to the fluctuating perspectives of a few or the majority.