Barron v. Mayor of Baltimore, 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 32 (1833) establishe a precedent on whether the United States Bill of Rights could be applied to state governments. John Barron owned a profitable wharf in the Baltimore harbor. He sued the mayor of Baltimore for damages, claiming that when the city had diverted the flow of streams while engaging in street construction, it had created mounds of sand and earth near his wharf making the water too shallow for most vessels. The trial court awarded Barron damages of $4,500, but the appellate court reversed. The Supreme Court decided that the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, specifically the Fifth Amendment's guarantee that government takings of private property for public use require just compensation, are restrictions on the federal government alone. The case is particularly important in terms of American government because it stated that the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights did not restrict the state governments.