1 - Overture: theatrical censorship from the Puritans to Anthony Comstock

Summary

The Massachusetts Bay colony

Any discussion of theatrical censorship in the United States must begin with the religious sects that settled the colonies of British North America. They transported the anti-theatrical feelings of radical English Protestants to the New World and inscribed their attitudes into colonial law. More importantly, they forged a bond between secular and religious authorities that permitted (and encouraged) judicial and executive units to suppress any individual or group that challenged the moral topography as described by mainstream Christian teaching. While the Constitution may have prevented the establishment of a national religion, very few citizens questioned the right of governmental units to defend the moral status quo.

The stage, for English Puritans, represented a chaotic and anarchic site, exempt from the laws of the state and of God where sexual, social, and religious transgressions could be practiced with impunity. It was the church of Satan and undermined the authority of true Christianity. The Puritans who sailed for North America brought these prejudices with them, and the English government that approved of and protected theatre was an ocean away. Although there were specific instances of anti-theatrical activity in most of the English colonies in North America, the vast majority of theatrical censorship emanated from the Puritan plantations of New England and the Quaker commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The flood of immigrants into North America began in 1630 and, by 1640, over 18,000 English citizens had settled along the Atlantic seaboard.