Article IV - Relations of States in the Federal Union

The "Full Faith and Credit" Clause

l. Under the "full faith and credit" clause, every state must accept the laws and decisions of all other states.

Rights of Citizens in Other States

l. If a person who is charged with a crime in one state is found in another state, the state in which he is found must return the person to the state in which the crime was committed. This is called extradition.

2. Each state must treat the citizens of other states the same way it treats its own citizens.

3. People must obey the laws of the state in which they are located, even if they are different from the laws of the state in which they live.

Guarantees to the States

1. The national government guarantees that each state will have a republican (representative) form of government.

2. The national government guarantees that it will protect all the states from invasion.

3. The national government guarantees to provide assistance to states in putting down violence or riots in a state.

Power Between the national and State Governments

1. The states can not do anything that is forbidden to them by the Constitution. For example, the states are forbidden to coin money, make treaties, grant titles of nobility, or pass ex post facto laws.

2. Any power not forbidden by the Constitution or given to the national government may be carried out by the states through their state constitutions. This right is guaranteed in the 10th Amendment, which says that "the powers not delegated to the united States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states...or to the people."

3. there are certain powers that are shared by the national and state governments, including the power to tax, to borrow, to establish courts, among other powers. Powers that are held by both the national and state governments are known as concurrent powers.