Editing Openai/695c860c-fb24-8010-a014-a687d2d61cb3 (section)

===== On June 8, 1789, Madison introduced proposed amendments that expressly would have bound states: =====

: 

That language (and the House version’s similar “No state shall infringe…” text) is strong evidence that at least Madison thought state-binding protection needed to be written in, not presumed. Teaching American History<ref>{{cite web|title=Teaching American History|url=https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-house-version/|publisher=Teaching American History|access-date=2026-01-09}}</ref>
And accounts of the drafting process note that this attempt to impose key rights on states did not survive the legislative process. Teaching American History<ref>{{cite web|title=Teaching American History|url=https://teachingamericanhistory.org/resource/fate-of-madison/|publisher=Teaching American History|access-date=2026-01-09}}</ref>

If it were “universally understood” that the federal Bill of Rights already bound states, Madison’s “No state shall…” proposal would have been redundant in a way that’s hard to explain.