The Comstock Act of 1873 was enacted in an effort to regulate what the U.S. mail service would and would not legally transport: it was agreed by Congress that obscene and immoral material would not be transported by the U.S. mail.
Why was the Comstock Law so controversial?
The Comstock Law (1873) The Comstock Law was a controversial law because it limited the reproductive rights of women and violated every person’s right to privacy. This federal law was the beginning of a long fight over the reproductive rights of women which is still being waged.
What was the Comstock Act of 1873?
"Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles for Immoral Use" The Comstock Law, passed in the United States in 1873, was part of a campaign for legislating public morality in the United States.
What did Comstock do for the New York State Police?
After Congress passed the bill, it designated Comstock as a special agent in the United States Post Office charged with enforcing the law. With the help of his New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, Comstock was able to arrest individuals under the new act.
Who was Anthony Comstock and what did he do?
Anthony Comstock. …federal statute known as the Comstock Law, which outlawed the transportation of obscene matter in the mails. From that year until his death he served (without pay until 1906) as a special agent of the U.S. Post Office Department. Also in 1873 he founded the New York Society for the….
What was the Comstock Act?
(Symbol of the " New York Society for the Suppression of Vice ", advocating book-burning, public domain). The Comstock Act of 1873 made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or lascivious,” “immoral,” or “indecent” publications ...
What law made it illegal to send obscene, lewd, or lascivious publications through the?
The Comstock Act of 1873 made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or lascivious,” “immoral,” or “indecent” publications through the mail. The law also made it a misdemeanor for anyone to sell, give away, or possess an obscene book, pamphlet, picture, drawing, or advertisement.
Why was the Comstock Act passed?
Anthony Comstock, head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, had shown members of Congress illustrations that he considered obscene and urged legislators to pass the measure to prevent crime and corruption of children.
What was the breadth of the legislation?
The breadth of the legislation included writings or instruments pertaining to contraception and abortion, even if written by a physician. Although officially titled An Act for the Suppression of Trade In, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use, the statute did not provide a definition of obscenity.
Why did Comstock enforce the sections in the Act that dealt with birth control?
This concerned social reformers because it prevented women from controlling the size of their families, a particular hardship for those with small incomes.
Which case applied the Hicklin test?
The judge applied the Hicklin test from the British decision in Regina v. Hicklin (1868): “I think the test is this, whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall.”.
What did the petitioners argue about the anti-obscenity provisions?
The petitioners argued that its anti-obscenity provisions had been “enforced to destroy the liberty of conscience in matters of religion, against the freedom of the press and to the great hurt of the learned professions.”.
Why was the Comstock Law so controversial?
The Comstock Law was a controversial law because it limited the reproductive rights of women and violated every person’s right to privacy. This federal law was the beginning of a long fight over the reproductive rights of women which is still being waged.
What was the purpose of the Comstock Law?
Anthony Comstock, who was the head of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, spent most of his years lobbying for the bill to be passed into federal law. The Comstock Law of 1873 was enacted in order to restrict any individual from selling or sending what were considered obscenities, including offering any information regarding contraception and abortion. Punishment for violating the law was imprisonment for no less than six months and no more than five years or a fine not less than one hundred dollars and not more than two thousand dollars.
How long was the Comstock Law?
Punishment for violating the law was imprisonment for no less than six months and no more than five years or a fine not less than one hundred dollars and not more than two thousand dollars. The Comstock Law brought reproductive issues to the forefront of American society and paved the way for many future Supreme Court Cases on relevant topics.
Why did Anthony Comstock arrest Woodhull?
Anthony Comstock had marshals sent to arrest Woodhull, after he received the literature, for violating state law. Anthony Comstock, who was the head of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, spent most of his years lobbying for the bill to be passed into federal law.
What did Thurgood Marshall say about privacy?
Then in 1969 Justice Thurgood Marshall stated that the rights to receive information and to personal privacy were fundamental to every American. This statement was part of his decision in the Supreme Court case Stanley v. Georgia (1969), which came about when a man’s house was searched by law enforcement because of his alleged bookmaking activities.
Which amendments did the Comstock Law affect?
The court decided that under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, private possession of obscene materials was not a crime. Although indirectly, the Comstock Law contributed to the most popular and notorious court case about reproductive rights, Roe v. Wade (1973).
When was Comstock Law enforced?
The Comstock Law was enforced until 1965 when the landmark decision of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) found it unconstitutional to restrict access to birth control because it interfered with a person’s right to privacy.
What is Comstock law?
The Comstock Laws were a set of federal acts passed by the United States Congress under the Grant administration along with related state laws. The "parent" act (Sect. 211) was passed on March 3, 1873, as the Act for the "Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use".
How many states have obscenity laws?
Twenty-four States (and the District of Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii) have obscenity laws, under which, because of the Federal precedent, contraceptive knowledge may be suppressed as obscene, although it is not specifically mentioned. Obscenity has never been defined in law. This produces a mass of conflicting, inconsistent judicial decision, which would be humorous, if it were not such a mortifying revelation of the limitations and perversions of the human mind.
Why did the Free Love Movement despised the Comstock Laws?
This movement despised the law because they believed it embodied the sexual oppression of women. The free-lovers argued that neither the church nor the state had the right to regulate an individual's sexual relations and that women were sexually enslaved by the institution of marriage. This made the free-lovers the number one target of Comstock and his crusade against obscenity.
Why was Comstock hired?
Comstock was eventually hired by the association to help fight for the suppression of vice. The motivation for Comstock's support of Federal legislation was "The Beecher-Tilton Scandal Case" and the publicity for the case provided by Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin; writers for Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly.
What is Section 305?
Section 305 of the Tariff Act of 1922 forbade the importation of any contraceptive information or means. Numerous failed attempts were made to repeal or modify these laws and eventually, many of them (or portions of them) were declared unconstitutional.
How many states have birth control laws?
In the United States, laws relating to birth control seem to have been developed since about 1870. Congress, the legislatures of nineteen states and Puerto Rico, and the commission of the Canal Zone, have enacted statutes that clearly and definitely refer to the prevention of conception in women as a practice to be deterred by such laws. In only one state, Connecticut, is the actual act of using contraception a crime, In Canada, at least Ontario has such a law deterring contraception'. Twenty- two more states of the Union, and also Hawaii have statutes which the courts, with liberality of construction or strictness, hold to apply or not apply criminally to the matter of birth control, at least through prevention of conception, or "contraception." The District of Columbia, and the states of Rhode Island and Florida have kindred enactments, relating in the states to causing miscarriage of a pregnant woman, and in the District to abortion. Four states, Georgia, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and North Carolina, and also Alaska, appear to have no legislation that either certainly or possibly may be held to apply to birth control. All the forty- nine sets of enactments referred to, are found in the statute books under "obscenity" and "offenses against morals," as headings. In most cases the phraseology relating to contraception is found embedded among many clauses relating to pornographic or non-mailable matter, to indecent and immoral printing, writing, painting and the like. Colorado, Indiana and Wyoming mention " self-pollution ," and Massachusetts names " self-abuse " along with abortion and prevention of conception.
Who was the architect who was charged with disseminating contraceptive information?
In 1915, architect William Sanger was charged under the New York law against disseminating contraceptive information. His wife Margaret Sanger was similarly charged in 1915 for her work The Woman Rebel. Sanger circulated this work through the U.S. postal service, effectively violating the Comstock Law. On appeal, her conviction was reversed on the grounds that contraceptive devices could legally be promoted for the cure and prevention of disease.
What is the Comstock Act?
The Comstock Act was amended in 1876 to read “Every obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, writing, print or other publication of an indecent character, and every article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion, and every article or thing intended or adapted for any indecent or immoral use, and every written or printed card, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, or how, or of whom, or by what means, any of the hereinbefore mentioned matters, articles, or things may be obtained or made, and every letter upon the envelope of which, or postal card upon which, indecent, lewd, obscene, or lascivious delineations, epithets, terms, or language may be written or printed, are hereby declared to be non-mailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the mails, nor delivered from any post-office, nor by any letter-carrier.”
What was the Comstock law? What was its purpose?
As enacted , March 2, 1873, the Comstock law forbade the sending through the sending through the mails of any drug or medicine or any article whatever for the prevention of conception.” The 1873 act did not focus on fertility control, but was a statute that included birth control and abortion among a long list of commercial obscenities. Comstock rallied against contraceptive devices bought and sold in commercial spaces, not against natural forms of birth control such as abstinence and the rhythm method used privately at home. In making this distinction, he articulated the views of many Victorians who publicly supported family limitation only when it was achieved by dignified, “ethical” means. What Comstock found so objectionable was the prominence of contraceptives in the vice trade.
What was Comstock's concern in Frauds Exposed?
In Frauds Exposed (1872), Comstock expressed concern over the general health of society and condemned those who preyed on the sick, offering their concoctions in the press. The “quackery” market was flooded with self-help devices and medicines. Laymen, as well as physicians, could buy electrotherapy devices through catalogs. Tonics and pills compounded in backyards and basements were sold to people desperate for relief from illness. This easy availability concerned Comstock deeply. The plight of young people worried him especially. The quack “by his lying advertisements and worthless nostrums, traversing the …newspapers and mails…comes upon the suffering and afflicted ones, not only to deceive and heartlessly rob them, but to add to their suffering”.
What is the message of Comstock's second book?
In his second book, Traps for the young (1883), Comstock addresses parents, teachers and ministers, warning them of the peril to adolescent morals in dime novels, advertising and blatantly obscene literature. “The message of these evil things is death – socially, morally, physically and spiritually.”
What did the opponents of the law object to?
Opponents to the law objected to the heavy handed and deceptive methods used by Comstock. He requested material under the guise of a distraught husband and when the material was provided he had the provider arrested. Comstock defended himself by saying “Not one of my opponents has ever been near me, or made a single inquiry at my office for facts. Without at least an attempt to get at the facts, they are not qualified to speak, and what they say should be viewed with suspicion and weighed with great care by thinking men. Thus is defined the true position of the opponents to the above law”.
Who was Anthony Comstock?
Anthony Comstock was born in 1844 in New Canaan, Connecticut. His father was a prosperous farmer, and his mother was a devout Congregationalist. She died when Comstock was only 10 years old, but her religious fervor remained alive in her son who clung to the “austere, fire-and-brimstone faith of his childhood.” Based on a firm belief that the devil’s temptations were omniscient, Comstock rationalized that abstinence from all impure thoughts and behaviors secured the faithful path to righteousness.
