What was the significance of Barron v. Baltimore (1833)?

Barron v. Baltimore (1833) is significant primarily because it clarified the scope and application of the Bill of Rights, establishing that these protections were intended to limit only the powers of the federal government and did not apply to state governments. The Supreme Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of just compensation for private property taken for public use was not applicable to the states. This landmark case underscored the idea that state governments were not bound by the constraints of the Bill of Rights, thereby affirming the federal structure of governance in the United States at that time.

This ruling set a precedent that allowed states to regulate matters without having to adhere to the amendments that protect individual rights against federal infringement. As a result, many states had greater flexibility in their laws without the same level of scrutiny that federal laws were subjected to under the Bill of Rights. This fundamental understanding influenced both the interpretation of constitutional rights throughout the 19th century and the subsequent incorporation of Bill of Rights protections to the states through later amendments and legal developments.