Question

How did Americans establish governments as they went from being British colonies to independent states?

Answer 1

C: Americans in each state devised state constitutions that established bicameral legislatures, laid out rules for choosing state governors, and set up a system of state courts.

The states created their own constitutions but a similarity that emerged was a system with a governor and a 2-house congress mimicking the federal system. The individual laws set by states varied from state to state. For example many northern states abolished slavery in their state while southern states allowed for the freedom to own slaves. These differences were protected under the Tenth Amendment which stated that rights not stated in the federal Constitution were reserved for the states.