On June 8, 1789, James Madison introduced a set of constitutional amendments that would become the Bill of Rights. Madison emphasized the need for these rights to protect citizens not only from the federal government but also from state governments, stating, "the state governments are as liable to attack these invaluable privileges as the general [national] government is, and therefore ought to be as cautiously guarded against."

Originally, the Bill of Rights applied solely to the federal government. The First Amendment, for example, states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This meant that state governments could enact laws restricting these freedoms without violating the federal Constitution unless their own state constitutions provided protections.

An example of such state authority occurred in 1831 when the Georgia legislature authorized a $5,000 bounty to be paid by the Governor to anyone who arrested and prosecuted to conviction the editor or publisher of 'the Liberator,' or anyone circulating the paper within Georgia.

This dynamic changed with the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868. Jacob Howard (R-Mich.), who introduced the amendment in the Senate in 1866, explained that the "mass of privileges, immunities, and rights" secured by the Constitution "do not operate in the slightest degree as a restraint or prohibition upon State legislation." He added that the amendment's "great object ... is to restrict the power of the States and compel them at all times to respect these great fundamental guarantees."

Thus, the 14th Amendment extended constitutional protections to limit state governments, aligning with Madison's original concern that states should be as cautiously guarded against infringing on fundamental rights as the federal government.

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