Name one thing the U.S. Constitution does.

Why this is the answer

The Constitution is first of all a blueprint. Its opening three articles create the federal government and divide it into three branches. Article I gives the lawmaking power to Congress, made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Article II places executive power in a President. Article III vests judicial power in one Supreme Court and whatever lower federal courts Congress decides to set up. That is what the official answers mean by forming the government and defining its parts. It also says what that government may do. USCIS gives examples: the federal government can create an army to defend the nation, declare war, make treaties with other countries and print the money people use. Just as important are the limits. The framers wanted to restrain government power, so they separated it into three branches and divided authority between the national government and the states, an arrangement called federalism. Finally, the Constitution protects individual rights. It lists fundamental rights for citizens and for other people living in the United States, most famously in its first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. So the four official answers line up with the document's design: it forms the government, defines the parts of government, defines the powers of government and protects the rights of the people. You only need to give one. Choose whichever you can say most clearly; "it forms the government" is short and hard to garble, and "protects the rights of the people" ties the answer to your own life. Watch out for answers that belong to a different document or a different branch. Declaring independence from Great Britain was the work of the Declaration of Independence. Passing individual laws is a job the Constitution hands to Congress, so the Constitution itself does not list every federal law. Think of a house: the Constitution is the architect's plan that sets out the rooms and their walls, Congress furnishes the rooms with laws, and the Bill of Rights marks the space that belongs to you.