That deals with things the fed can do but the state can not.
My question is, if the constitution protects a particular right of the individual, say, free speech, does the authority of the constitution (protection of that individual right) extend only to the federal government, thereby allowing individual state governments to limit the same individual freedom?
Some rights have been "incorporated" and some have not. In the case of "incorporated" free speech, a town could once place a crêche in the town square prior and have a prayer to Christ at its high school graduation, prior to the Constitution being modified from the bench. Now such expressions can be silenced by order of a federal court district judge.