The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that originally, the Bill of Rights applied solely to the federal government and did not limit state authority. The First Amendment 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." Under the original Constitution, states could enact laws restricting these rights unless their own constitutions provided otherwise.

This 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 many constitutional rights "do not operate in the slightest degree as a restraint or prohibition upon State legislation." He said the amendment's main goal was "to restrict the power of the States and compel them at all times to respect these great fundamental guarantees."

On June 8, 1789, James Madison proposed the amendments that became the Bill of Rights. He argued, "Because it must be admitted, on all hands, that 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."

An example of state-level restrictions 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 in Georgia.

Madison’s vision of applying the Bill of Rights equally against the states was not realized until after the Civil War and the adoption of the 14th Amendment, which imposed constitutional limits on state governments.

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