The Origins and Incorporation of the Bill of Rights
When the U.S. Constitution was first drafted it only addressed how the government would function and lacked any mention of individual rights and liberties at the federal or state level. This lack of individual rights and civil liberties provided difficulty in the ratification of the Constitution by the states. It took years of debate between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist to create the Bill of Rights (The Bill of Rights: A Brief History), The Federalists thought the Bill of Rights was unnecessary and the Anti-Federalists would not support the Constitution without it. The American People wanted guarantees that the new government would not trample on their newly won freedoms (The Bill of …show more content…
When Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, it appeared the Bill of Rights would be enforced on the states using the privileges and the immunities clause (Incorporation (Bill of Rights)). However, during The Slaughter-house Cases, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the privileges and immunities clause was it only protected the rights of national citizenship from state governments (Slaughter-House Cases). Under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Bill of Rights finally began being incorporated at the state level.
Examples of selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights are the Gitlow v. New York case, freedom of speech (Dautrich and Yalof 77); Near v. Minnesota case, freedom of the press (Dautrich and Yalof 77); Cantwell v. Connectict case freedom of religion (Dautrich and Yalof 77); and Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright and Miranda v. Arizona which incorporated several rights of accused criminals (Dautrich and Yalof 77). It wasn’t until 1962 when most provisions of the Bill of Rights were finally incorporated to all states (Incorporation (Bill of
When the U.S. Constitution was first drafted it only addressed how the government would function and lacked any mention of individual rights and liberties at the federal or state level. This lack of individual rights and civil liberties provided difficulty in the ratification of the Constitution by the states. It took years of debate between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist to create the Bill of Rights (The Bill of Rights: A Brief History), The Federalists thought the Bill of Rights was unnecessary and the Anti-Federalists would not support the Constitution without it. The American People wanted guarantees that the new government would not trample on their newly won freedoms (The Bill of …show more content…
When Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, it appeared the Bill of Rights would be enforced on the states using the privileges and the immunities clause (Incorporation (Bill of Rights)). However, during The Slaughter-house Cases, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the privileges and immunities clause was it only protected the rights of national citizenship from state governments (Slaughter-House Cases). Under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Bill of Rights finally began being incorporated at the state level.
Examples of selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights are the Gitlow v. New York case, freedom of speech (Dautrich and Yalof 77); Near v. Minnesota case, freedom of the press (Dautrich and Yalof 77); Cantwell v. Connectict case freedom of religion (Dautrich and Yalof 77); and Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright and Miranda v. Arizona which incorporated several rights of accused criminals (Dautrich and Yalof 77). It wasn’t until 1962 when most provisions of the Bill of Rights were finally incorporated to all states (Incorporation (Bill of