Unifying the Nation

In-depth examination of a rarely studied article of the United States Constitution.

While there is a vast amount of scholarship on the US Constitution, very little of it addresses Article IV. The article's first section, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, requires that individual states must respect "the public acts, accords, and judicial proceedings of every other state," and the second section, the Privileges and Immunity Clause, prevents one state from treating the citizens of another state in a discriminatory manner. In Unifying the Nation, Joseph F. Zimmerman provides a unique and comprehensive examination of court cases pertaining to both sections. Article IV, he argues, is central to the political and economic union of the individual states that comprise the nation. Many of the court cases cited in the text have tremendous day-to-day relevance and implications for the practice of government, such as same-sex marriage, child adoption, child support, public welfare, health care, and telecommunications.