What is “citation inflation”?

Citation inflation means using a scholar's citation to give an impression that the scholar supports more of your argument than the scholar actually supports.

Example of proper use

Smith says:

legal citizenship and lived citizenship can be distinguished.

You write:

Smith (2022) distinguishes legal citizenship from lived citizenship.

Then:

This distinction helps illuminate the post-emancipation experience of formerly enslaved African Americans.

Perfect.

Example of citation inflation

You write:

Smith (2022) argues that although the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, formerly enslaved African Americans continued to face racial discrimination, lacked land, and experienced unequal bargaining power.

If Smith did not make those particular historical claims in the passage you cite, then you're using his authority to support propositions that actually come from your own historical research or other historians.

That's citation inflation.

So your principle should be:

Cite Smith for Smith's framework; cite historical evidence for the post-emancipation facts; then make your own inference connecting them.