States in American Constitutionalism: Interpretation, Authority, and Politics examines the often overlooked role that states have played in the development and maintenance of American constitutionalism by examining the purpose and effect of state resolutions on national constitutional meaning. From colonial practices through contemporary politics, subnational governments have made claims about what national constitutional provisions and principles ought to mean, fashioned political coalitions to back them, and asserted their authority to provoke constitutional settlement. Yet, this practice has been far from static. Political actors have altered the practice in response to their interpretive objectives and the political landscape of the day. States in American Constitutionalism explains both the development of the practice and the way each innovation to the practice affected subsequent iterations. Hays presents a series of case studies that explore the origins of the practice in colonial constitutionalism, its function in the early Republic, subsequent developments in antebellum and twentieth century politics, and contemporary practice in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. States in American Constitutionalism will be of great interest to students and academics interested in constitutional law and politics, political and constitutional development, and federalism.

State legislatures regularly and recurrently affect constitutional meaning. However, they do so not through legal pathways like constitutional amendment or judicial challenges but by passing resolutions that assert an interpretation different than the one prevailing nationally. These resolutions help rally popular and political resistance and, when successful, alter the wider political environment and constitutional culture. Despite the obvious importance of federalism to American constitutionalism, little is known about the political influence of states in defining the American constitutional order.

Through analysis of colonial practices, early American political thought, and case studies of state response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, the embargo crisis, federal spending on internal improvements, the national tariff, civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, the USA PATRIOT Act, the REAL ID Act, and others, "Federal Constitutionalism" raises and answers the following questions:

• What is the origin of state participation in political constitutionalism and what function does it serve?
• How do state practices relate to Calhounian nullification and strong states rights claims?
• How has state participation changed over time as the strength of federalism fluctuated and politics nationalized?

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Federal Constitutionalism" offers analysis at the intersection of federalism and politics in the fullness of time. In so doing, it provides much needed insight into state involvement in political constitutionalism. "