The Creator of Comstock Law
Now, before dissecting this policy more and analyzing its impacts, let’s take a look at the primary person who lobbied for this policy, Anthony Comstock. Comstock was raised in Connecticut by a devout Christian household in the mid-1800s. He grew up hearing stories about Christian heroes battling and defeating satanic enemies. Comstock became infatuated with these stories and strove to make these ideals prevalent in people’s lives. While he was a young man, he served in the Civil War and tried to convince his fellow soldiers to join him in Chrsitian worship, but he was ostracized due to how often he would ask them about it. This led to him having a mindset of denial, which developed in the diary that he kept. However, he didn’t become the person whose sole purpose was to combat illicit materials and goods until after he moved to Brooklyn after serving in the war.
In Brooklyn, Comstock uncovered a bookstore that was selling illicit reading materials [1]. This helped Comstock gain notoriety in newspapers, which emboldened him to go after several other publishers. After his crusade throughout New York, Comstock had exposed 169 sexually ecplicit books that were being produced by well known publishers at the time [1]. With these successes under his belt, Comstock went after the most prolific publisher, William Hayes, by attempting to buy the Haye’s printing plates from his wife. In order to get the money needed for this, Comstock went to the New York YMCA, who not only gave him the money, but also made him the secretary of the YMCA’s new Committee for the Suppression of Vice. As the new secretary, Comstock was able to go on national crusades against illicit materials, which eventually led to him heading to Washington D.C., so that a new law could be produced.
[1] Leonard, Devin May. “The Life and Times of a True American Moral Hysteric.” Literary Hub. Literary Hub, March 25, 2019. https://lithub.com/the-life-and-times-of-a-true-american-moral-hysteric/.