The Bill of Rights is an unofficial name for the first 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that were ratified by all states in order to limit the federal government’s power and protect the individual liberties (Dictionary of American History). The Bill of Rights was developed when the American colonists were no longer under the control of Great Britain and had to build up a new country that comprised many states. There was the need to develop the legal base so that all states could peacefully co-exist and there was the proper balance of power between the central government and the states. The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791 three years after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution (Dictionary of American History).
The Bill of Rights became a vital document, because it stipulated the principles which had to be applied by the central government and later by the states. However, the Amendments had very little judicial impact for a very long period of time and only after their incorporation in the XX century they were actively applied by the states. The following individual rights are protected by the Bill of Rights: freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition; a right to own arms, etc. In turn, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments limit the power of the federal government and instead delegate the power to the states and the people (Bianco & Canon 110).
The Federalists opposed adding the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, because they thought that it would restrict the people’s freedoms. In their opinion if the freedoms of speech, religion or press were officially protected, than the other freedoms that were not included into the Bill of Rights would be left unprotected and thus the American people would be entitled only to the limited number of freedoms. What is more, the Federalists thought that the issues of personal rights had to be protected by the state constitutions rather than by the U.S. Constitution. There were many Federalists that thought that the Bill of Rights was unnecessary and that the outcomes of passing the Bill of Rights were very uncertain. Finally, it was not easy to find a consensus between the states because of the political competition between the Federalists and the Anti-federalists that had different political ideologies. Eventually, the Federalists realized that the federal government needed to get the recognition of all states and therefore they had to come to terms with some states that did not want to ratify the U.S. Constitution unless the Bill of Rights was added (Lynch).
Selective incorporation is the constitutional process through which the civil liberties that were mentioned in the Bill of Rights were applied to the states on “a case-by-case” basis in accordance with the Fourteenth Amendment (Bianco & Canon 112). The incorporation doctrine was vital for the application of the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states. Prior to 1925, the Amendments of the Bill of Rights were applied only to the federal government, but nowadays similar standards are applied to the state governments too (Magloff). Only the Fifth and the Seventh Amendment that are concerned with the grand jury and the jury trial have not been incorporated.
The main idea behind incorporation of the Bill of Rights at the state level is that the state legislatures must not pass the anti-constitutional laws. Basically incorporation created the new balance of power between the states and the federal government as well as better protection of the citizens’ rights. The U.S. Supreme Court was responsible for the incorporation in order to make sure that this process was unbiased and corresponded to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that addresses the rights of the citizens and equal protection of the laws (Magloff). As the result of selective incorporation, the people in all states are protected and the power of the states is limited. In the past 50 years, there were many vital decisions taken by the Supreme Court. They were about the right for abortion, gay marriage, etc. Without the 14th Amendment and consequent selective incorporation they would have been impossible.
Works Cited
Bianco, W., Canon, D. American Politics Today. W.W. Norton & Company. 3 January 2013.
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Lynch, J. Debating the Bill of Rights. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Winter 2009.
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Magloff, L. What is Meant by Selective Incorporation? Legal Zoom. n.d. Web. 11 May 2016
“Bill of Rights in U.S. Constitution.” Dictionary of American History. Encyclopedia.com.
2003. Web. 11 May. 2016
