Although American constitutional development is often understood as encompassing the drafting, amendment, and interpretation of the US Constitution, this represents only part, and not necessarily the most important part, of the story, because of the prominent role played by the fifty state constitutions.
My purpose is to examine the role of state constitutions in producing political change in the US federal system and, in doing so, to address three questions. First, what accounts for the fact that state constitutions have figured so prominently in bringing about political changes in the United States? Second, what specific political changes have been achieved through the drafting, revision, and interpretation of state constitutions? Third, what are the main consequences of the prominent role played by state constitutions in American political development?
To preview the argument on each of these points: the prominence of state constitutionalism in US politics can be attributed to several factors.
It is due in part to the fact that the federal constitution is a short and spare document that leaves the regulation of many important issues to state governments and constitutions. State constitutions are also much easier to amend than the federal constitution, thereby enabling groups to make frequent use of state constitutional processes to achieve their policy goals. Still another contributing factor is a dual court system that permits state courts to independently interpret state constitutions and provide more protection for rights than is afforded by US Supreme Court interpretation of the US Constitution.As for the changes achieved through state constitutional processes, state constitutions have figured prominently in a number of eras in American political development. State constitutions preceded the federal constitution and served as a testing ground for many institutional arrangements adopted in the federal constitution in 1787 and reconsidered in later years. State constitutions have also been an important, and at times the only, vehicle for the expansion of the suffrage. Particularly in the post-1970s era, state court interpretations of state constitutions have also provided more extensive protection for individual rights than is guaranteed at the federal level.
In several major eras in American political development, reformers also achieved key public policy reforms in part through state constitutional changes.Finally, the main consequences of the prominence of state constitutionalism are twofold. The flexibility of state constitutional processes has affected state politics by giving groups unable to achieve their goals through state political processes an opportunity to secure their aims through state constitutional processes, and it has affected the federal system by giving groups unable to achieve their goals through federal constitutional processes an outlet for achieving their goals through state constitutional processes. Although in both cases it is possible to identify disadvantages associated with permitting a ready reliance on state constitutional processes – and scholars have often highlighted these disadvantages – they are largely outweighed by the benefits of permitting a full range of institutional outlets for the realization of policy goals in the federal system.