ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the balance of constitutional authority between the national and the state governments in the American federal system. It explains Texas constitutionalism from its origins in Spanish Mexico, through the tumult of independence, statehood, and the American Civil War. The chapter explores the Texas Constitution of 1876. It discusses of the prospects for constitutional reform in Texas. The United States Constitution and the fifty state constitutions, including the Texas Constitution, derive their authority from popular sovereignty: the freely granted approval of the people. The Anglo settlement of Texas came overwhelmingly out of the American South. In Texas history, the smart criminals headed for Mexico, the stupid ones for Louisiana. The US Constitution and all fifty state constitutions do this by granting some powers, denying others, and deploying institutional features such as separation of powers, checks and balances, and bicameralism to limit and restrain government.
