CLEP Social Sciences

Answer - B - The individual rights that are promised to citizens under the Bill of Rights were later extended to the states, due to the Supreme Court interpretation of the 14^th Amendment.

Key Takeaway: The 14^th Amendment was passed shortly after the Civil War. One of its aspects was the decision that the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights would now be extended to the states. Section 1, arguably the most far-reaching section of the Fourteenth Amendment, formally defines citizenship and protects civil and political rights from being denied by any state. This represented the Congress’s reversal of the Dred Scott case, which ruled that black people were not and could not become citizens of the United States or enjoy any of the privileges of citizenship.