It's a little bit hard to even comprehend at this point because the US federal government has become such a leviathan, but the US started off as something a lot more like the EU. The idea was that you would have a very weak federal government that would basically just make sure that all the states were playing relatively nicely with each other and would work together in the case of an invasion or something, and then the state governments would be able to run themselves however they like. In the same way that England and Germany are not the same country, North Dakota and South Dakota would not be the same country, which is why it's called the United States rather than the United provinces or United prefectures.
It wasn't until much later on that the US Constitution's Bill of Rights even applied to the states, so a state could abridge freedom of speech as long as it was allowed within its own constitution.
So at that point, the Federal Constitution would have only been for granting powers to the extremely limited Federal government, and then the state constitutions would end up granting powers to the extremely limited or not state governments.
It wasn't until much later on that the US Constitution's Bill of Rights even applied to the states, so a state could abridge freedom of speech as long as it was allowed within its own constitution.
So at that point, the Federal Constitution would have only been for granting powers to the extremely limited Federal government, and then the state constitutions would end up granting powers to the extremely limited or not state governments.
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