Topics: Laws and Proposed Laws, 1791-1899

• Blaine Amendments

  Blaine amendments—19th century amendments to state constitutions—aimed to deny public funds for parochial schools and amplified the First Amendment's...

• Christian Amendment

  35,000 signatures were presented to Congress in 1876 to add a Christian Amendment to the Constitution to acknowledge the rulership of Jesus Christ. The effort...

• Comstock Act of 1873 (1873)

  The Comstock Act of 1873 made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or lascivious” publications through the mail or sell or possess an obscene book, pamphlet or...

• Hatch Act of 1939 (1939)

  The Hatch Act of 1939, which limited the political participation and speech of federal employees, has survived First Amendment free expression challenges...

• Indian Appropriations Act of 1896 (1896)

  Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act to pay American Indian education using religious schools to diffuse First Amendment controversy over church-state...

• Morrill Anti-bigamy Act of 1862 (1862)

  Congress adopted the Morrill Act for the Suppression of Polygamy in response to a perceived threat posed by polygamy, practiced by the Church of Jesus Christ of...

• Sedition Act of 1798 (1798)

  The clash over the Sedition Act of 1798, designed to deal with threats in the "quasi-war" with France, yielded the first sustained debate over the meaning of...

• Smith Act of 1940 (1940)

  The Smith Act of 1940 has been upheld against First Amendment challenges. The Act forbade any attempts to advocate for the violent destruction of the U.S....