| The U.S. Constitution and the States |
The Constitution shapes political life by creating the rules for national political institutions, preserving
rights for citizens, and organizing how the states fit into the working
of the national government in the United States. The Web pages below
focus on how the Constitution shapes state-level government—and
how state government exists within the ideas and institutions rooted
in the Constitution. These Web pages are excerpted from Texas Politics, an instruction resource developed by the College of Liberal Arts
Instructional Technology Services.
| Federalism & the Constitution |
| The Constitution distributes power between the national and state governments, as well as among the states. Explore how the Constitution assigns different capabilities to
the states and to the national government and places limits on both levels of government.
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| A Constitution’s Constitution? |
| The Constitution imposes requirements on the states. It grants wide latitude to the states within the federal system, but also imposes requirements on the states
to preserve core principles of democratic government.
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| Creating a State Constitution |
| This model constitution created by the National Municipal League provides a template for writing (or rewriting) state constitutions.
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