Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution provides that “full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.” This is the provision that provides that judgments in one state are generally respected by other states. It helped to create a single nation out of disparate states. The clause states:

Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.