Comstock Act

(noun)

A collection of state and federal restrictions that made it illegal to send any, "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail, including contraceptive devices and information. In addition to banning contraceptives, this act also banned the distribution of educational information about abortion.

Related Terms

Examples of Comstock Act in the following topics:

  • The New Feminism

    • Anthony Comstock, a postal inspector and leader in the purity movement, successfully lobbied for the passage of the 1873 Comstock Act, a federal law prohibiting the mailing of, "any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion," as well as any form of contraceptive information.
    • Many states also passed similar laws (collectively known as the Comstock laws), that extended the federal law by outlawing the use of contraceptives as well as their distribution.
    • At the turn of the century, an energetic movement arose that sought to overturn anti-obscenity laws and the Comstock Acts.
    • Under the influence of Goldman and the Free Speech League, Sanger became determined to challenge the Comstock Acts that outlawed the dissemination of contraceptive information.

  • Women in the West

    • In 1860, in the Comstock Lode region of Nevada, for example, there were reportedly only 30 women in a town with some 2,500 men.
    • Protestant missionaries eventually joined the women in their efforts, and Congress responded by passing both the Comstock Law (named after its chief proponent, anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock) in 1873 to ban the spread of “lewd and lascivious literature” through the mail, and the subsequent Page Act of 1875 to prohibit transportation of women into the United States for employment as prostitutes.

  • Mining on the Comstock Lode

    • The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located in what is now Virginia City, Nevada in 1857.
    • The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located in what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range.
    • The Comstock Lode is notable not just for the immense fortunes it generated and the large role those fortunes had in the growth of Nevada and San Francisco, but also for the advances in mining technology that it spurred.
    • Unlike most silver ore deposits, which occur in long thin veins, those of the Comstock Lode occurred in discrete masses, often hundreds of feet thick.

  • Gold Fever in the West

    • Each camp had its own rules and often handed out justice by popular vote, sometimes acting fairly and at times exercising vigilantism—with Indians, Mexicans, and Chinese generally receiving the harshest sentences.
    • The discovery of the Comstock Lode, containing vast amounts of silver, resulted in the Nevada boomtowns of Virginia City, Carson City, and Silver City.

  • The Enclosure Act

  • Higher Education

    • President Johnson's Great Society made improvements to elementary, secondary, and higher education through a series of acts.
    • The Act also began a transition from federally-funded institutional assistance to individual student aid.
    • The Higher Education Act of 1965 was reauthorized in 1968, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2008.
    • This signing plaque rests on campus grounds of Texas State University commemorating the Higher Education Act.
    • Distinguish the key features - as well as the effects - of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Higher Education Facilities Act, and the Higher Education Act.

  • The Coercive Acts

    • Four of the acts were issued in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of December 1773.
    • Many colonists, however, viewed the acts as an arbitrary violation of their rights.
    • The first of the acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party was the Boston Port Act.
    • The Massachusetts Government Act provoked even more outrage than the Port Act because it unilaterally altered the government of Massachusetts to bring it under control of the British government.
    • Although many colonists found the Quartering Act objectionable, it generated the least amount of protest of the Coercive Acts.

  • "The General Act of the Conference"

  • Securities Exchange Act of 1934

    • The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (also called the Exchange Act, '34 Act, or Act of '34) is a law governing the secondary trading of securities, including stocks, bonds, and debentures, in the United States of America.
    • While the Securities Act is very limited in scope, the Securities Exchange Act (also known as the Exchange Act or 1934 Act) is much broader.
    • The '34 Act also regulates broker-dealers without a status for trading securities.
    • ATS acts as a niche market, a private pool of liquidity.
    • Define how the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 regulates the US securities markets

  • Enforcing the Navigation Acts

    • These Acts formed the basis for British overseas trade for nearly 200 years.
    • Later revisions of the Act added new regulations.
    • The Acts were in full force for a short time only.
    • On the whole, the Navigation Acts were more or less obeyed by colonists, despite their dissatisfaction, until the Molasses and Sugar Acts.
    • Describe the central stipulations of the Navigation Acts and the Acts' effects on the political and economic situation in the colonies