Answer:
Before the civil war the constitution and the bill of rights were only understood to apply to the federal government not to the states. However, after the civil war with the addition of the 14th amendment the federal government expanded their control using the due process clause which stated. “no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law” and the equal protection clause which stated: “No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
These then were applied to certain rights to state governments suck as: in 1897, they said no state could take private property without just compensation, in 1925, they declared that the federal government guarantees of free speech and free press also applied to states and in 1937, certain rights must apply to the states because they are essential to “orderly liberty “and they are “principles of justice.”