Right, but remember, for a period of time in our nation's history, the Bill of Rights didn't apply to the states. This is why states like MA and VA actually had official state religions. But, over time, and especially with Slaughter-House cases coming out of the adoption of the 14th Amendment, more and more of the BORs became incorporated.
The first amendment specifically stated that CONGRESS shall make no law, which was for all those years rightly interpreted as limiting federal/congressional powers but not limiting states' powers. Other amendments asserted protection of the rights of the people. In some cases, the courts interpreted these protections incorrectly as limitations on the federal government even though the amendment did not say, for example, "nor shall Congress take private property for public use..." thereby ruling that "nor shall private property be taken for public use" to allow state or local governments to confiscate private property.
“Right, but remember, for a period of time in our nation’s history, the Bill of Rights didn’t apply to the states.”
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You don’t understand the Bill of Rights.
Some parts of it were a restraint on congress, and some were a restraint on government in general. This was made plain in the Federalist Papers. There has never been a time when the 2nd, 4th, and 5th ammendments didn’t apply to the states.
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