Answer: Before there was a federal (national) government there were only states, and each had its own constitution, put in place as a result of a May 10, 1776 resolution of the Continental Congress encouraging all (at that time) colonies to enact them.
The state constitutions governed the affairs of the states. When the U.S. Constitution came along, replacing the deficient Articles of Confederation, it governed the operation of the new federal government and, to some extent, had to limit the freedom of the states. In Article 1, Section 10, some restraints on the states were imposed.
As the Supreme Law of the Land, the U.S. Constitution rules wherever there is a conflict with a state Constitution. There are, however, what I called “concurrent powers” found in both - the power to tax is an example.
Finally, through the controversial “incorporation doctrine” (controversial because many see it as an improper ruling of the Supreme Court) the states have been required to protect most (but not all) of the rights secured by the Bill of Rights, even if such protections do not exist in their state Constitutions.
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