Texas and United States Constitution.
A constitution is the fundamental law by which a state or nation is organized and governed. The United States Constitution is the fundamental law of the United States of America. It establishes the framework of government, assigns the powers and duties of governmental bodies, and defines the relationship between the people and their government. Similarly, a state constitution is fundamental law for a state. The United States Constitution and the state constitutions together provide the total framework for government within the United Sates. State constitutions are important because they deal with some matters not discussed at all in the United States Constitution.
To people familiar with the United States Constitution, the most striking aspect of the Texas Constitution is its length. At 76, 000 words, the Texas Constitution is one of the longest state constitutions in the nation. The Texas Constitution includes a number of features in common with the United States Constitution: a bill of rights, separation of powers with checks and balances, and bicameralism. .
A bill of rights is a Constitutional document guaranteeing individual rights and liberties. As with other provisions of the Texas Constitution, the Texas Bill of Rights is long, considerably longer than its counterpart in the national constitution. The Texas document contains twenty - nine sections and includes most of the guarantees found in the national Bill of Rights, such as the protection of free speech and a free press, the guarantee of the right of trial by jury, and a safeguard against "unreasonable searches and seizures.".
The Texas Bill of Rights does a more than merely restate guarantees found in the American Constitution. The Texas document phrases the protection of rights positively rather than negatively. Consider the issue of freedom of expression. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the abridgment of free expression: "Congress shall make no law .
