<P> The doctrine of incorporation has been traced back to either Chicago , Burlington and Quincy Railroad v. City of Chicago ( 1897 ) in which the Supreme Court appeared to require some form of just compensation for property appropriated by state or local authorities ( although there was a state statute on the books that provided the same guarantee ) or , more commonly , to Gitlow v. New York ( 1925 ) , in which the Court expressly held that States were bound to protect freedom of speech . Since that time , the Court has steadily incorporated most of the significant provisions of the Bill of Rights . Provisions that the Supreme Court either has refused to incorporate , or whose possible incorporation has not yet been addressed include the Fifth Amendment right to an indictment by a grand jury , and the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in civil lawsuits . </P>
when did the federal government decide to incorporate the bill of rights to the states
1897