In its 1833 decision in Barron v. Baltimore, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed something about the American constitutional order that had been widely understood since the founding. Namely, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government and placed no limits on the authority of the states.
The First Amendment was actually quite explicit about it. "Congress shall make no law," it reads, "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
