On June 8, 1789, James Madison introduced a series of constitutional amendments that would become the Bill of Rights. Madison argued that these rights needed protection 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 only to the federal government. The First Amendment, for example, prohibits Congress from making laws "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." However, under the original Constitution, states could enact laws restricting these freedoms without violating the First Amendment unless their own constitutions provided otherwise.

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 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 stated that the amendment's primary goal was "to restrict the power of the States and compel them at all times to respect these great fundamental guarantees."

Thus, the 14th Amendment extended protections of the Bill of Rights to apply against state governments, limiting their authority to infringe on fundamental rights.

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