5. A body of State laws.
6. A judicial system of courts, from which no appeal can be had to United States courts, except upon Federal questions.
7. A system of local taxation.
Each State government has all the rights usually pertaining to a sovereign State, except—Those powers which the Federal Constitution expressly forbids to the States.
3. Those powers which have in the Constitution been exclusively given to the United States.
All States have public debts, which they may, and sometimes do, repudiate. They can be sued only by other States. The Eleventh Amendment declared that a citizen could not maintain a suit against a State. State laws are binding only within the boundaries of the State enacting them.
#State Constitutions.#—As the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the United States, so the State constitution is the highest law of the States. The Constitutions of the original thirteen States were naturally formed after the model of the charters enjoyed by the New England colonies. In the colonies of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts their charters were adopted as constitutions without any change, except, of course, the annulment of obedience to the English king. All subsequent constitutions have been closely modeled after these first thirteen. The Federal Constitution provides that all State constitutions must be Republican in form. (For other conditions of admission of territories as States, see subject "Territories.") The modes of amendment of constitutions differ in different States, but in all, amendment is much easier of accomplishment than in the case of the Federal Constitution. This is shown by the fact that since 1776 there have been adopted by the States one hundred and five complete constitutions, and two hundred and fourteen partial amendments; while, since the passage of the first ten Federal amendments in 1789, there have been but five additional amendments. Some States provide that the constitution shall be submitted to the people for amendment at the end of certain intervals of time. In the larger number of cases a majority of the popular vote is required for ratification of a constitutional amendment. State constitutions show a tendency to become longer, and to regulate a constantly increasing number of subjects.
A normal State constitution has the following provisions:
1. A definition of the State boundaries.
2. A bill of rights (guaranteeing private rights, such as freedom of the press and speech, trial by jury in criminal cases, right to assemble and petition, etc.).