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The State of Virginia jails 50 Baptist worshipers for preaching the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.
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The Continental Congress adopts the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.
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The Virginia legislature adopts the Ordinance of Religious Freedom, which effectively disestablished the Anglican Church as the official church and prohibited harassment based on religious differences.
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The 11th state to approve the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, thereby ratifying the Bill of Rights, is Virginia.
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John Stuart Mill publishes the essay “On Liberty.” The essay expands John Milton’s argument that if speech is free and the search for knowledge unfettered, then eventually the truth will rise to the surface.
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The US Supreme court determines it does not have the jurisdiction to review the conviction of newspaper publisher, John Patterson
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The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the conviction of socialist and presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs under the Espionage Act for making speeches opposing World War I.
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Teacher John Thomas Scopes is found guilty of violating a Tennessee law which prohibits teaching the theory of evolution in public schools.
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H.L. Mencken is arrested for distributing copies of American Mercury.
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The U.S. Supreme Court reverses the state court conviction of Yetta Stromberg, 19-year-old female member of the Young Communist League, who violated a state law prohibiting the display of a red flag as “an emblem of opposition to the United States government.” Legal commentators cite this case as the first in which the Court recognizes that protected speech may be nonverbal, or a form of symbolic expression.
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California repeals its Red Flag Law, ruled unconstitutional in Stromberg.
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules that school board officials violated the First Amendment rights of Illinois public school teacher Marvin Pickering, who was fired for writing a letter critical of the school administration to a local newspaper.
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest at the funeral of slain Marine Matthew Snyder was protected by the First Amendment. The Court holds that the protesters were on public property and engaged in peaceful speech on matters of public concern.
