Understanding the Role of State Constitutions in the U.S.

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Recommended: Similarities between state and federal constitutions

The United States has a federal constitution which constructs the fundamental principles of the nation. One of these principles is the 10th amendment, giving all powers not delegated to the federal government to the states. Like the federal constitution the role of state constitutions is to create a legal and political structure which to base the states government around. State constitutions also include a bill of rights or something similar to it, these outline rights guaranteed to citizens, along with restrictions on certain activates as long as they don’t violate the federal constitution. State constitutions tend to be much longer than the United States constitution. That is because all powers not given to the federal government are reserved for the state leaving a lot of power to be delegated. Most state constitutions include policy and how to handle specific issues related to the citizens of the state. States also have the issue of smaller governments that fall under their jurisdiction. State constitutions have to include provisions on creating and eliminating these local governments and what their functions, duties and responsibilities are. …show more content…

State constitutions establish the 3 different branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial. The state constitution delegates what functions each branch will perform and also states any restrictions of their functions. Organization of state government includes how many seats the legislature will have, term limits and the requirements citizens must meet to fill a role in the government. The function of state constitutions is complex yet very simple to describe. There are two key functions, one being how the government will operate based on the structure it has created, and two the formation of rules that the citizens and government must abide

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