Existing comment:
"Incorporating" Rights
When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, its protections of Americans' rights constrained only the Federal Government. State governments could still encroach on fundamental rights such as free speech or press.
Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment changed this -- eventually. It was not until the 20th century that the Supreme Court began to interpret the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to require that states also protect individual rights. Case by case over decades, the Supreme Court ruled that most of the Bill of Rights applied to the states -- a process referred to as "incorporation."
14th Amendment
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
-- 14th Amendment, section 1, U.S. Constitution, 1868 |