What is selective incorporation? Did American federalism support incorporation or slow it down? Why? Compare Barron v. Baltimore, Gitlow v. New York,

Selective incorporation=the ability of the Supreme Court to decide which parts of the Bill of Rights they will include in the interpretation of the 14th Ammendment for a specific case. Therefore depending on the case, the Court can decide apply one or more different Ammendments to the context of the case.

Federalism in a way slowed down incorporation because it took many years after the establishment of the 14th for incorporation to even be considered. Many cases took place in which the defendent argued against state's rights and their ability to infringe on the citizens, and in many cases, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state. Not until the acceptance of a citizen as being both of the STATE and the COUNTRY could the 14th be applied to civil liberties. In this way, federalism acted as a brief hindrance to this development of selective incorporation.