United States

Each state of the United States has its own constitution. Like the national constitution, state constitutions establish the basic framework for governance in their state. However, state constitutions are fundamentally different than the U.S. Constitution. While the primary objective of the U.S. Constitution is to enumerate the powers of the federal government, state constitutions serve to limit state powers. Amending state constitutions is much easier than the U.S. Constitution. As a result, most state constitutions have become long and detailed. Since the 1970s, more state courts have begun to rely on their state constitutions in civil rights matters. As a result, the field of studying state constitutions is growing, and considerable information about them is available today.