Theodore Schroeder was a controversial author who wrote on issues pertaining to freedom of expression. Schroeder was perhaps one of the first authors to challenge the state of freedom of speech in the United States, claiming that the US government may be a tyranny and that the way Americans view their liberties makes Americans hypocrites.

Schroeder was a freelance psychoanalyst who studied the sexual basis of all religious experience. His interest in free speech, as well as his psychosexual theories, led him to study the controversial life of Ida C. Craddock

Ida Craddock

Ida C. Craddock was a 19th-century American advocate of free speech and women's rights.-Early life:Ida Craddock was born in Philadelphia; her father died when she was two years old...

.

Schroeder entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 in 1882 to study engineering, then earned a law degree in 1889.

Legal career

Schroeder practiced law for ten years in Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, working for statehood for Utah.

In 1900, Schroeder moved to New York. In 1902, he formed the Free Speech League

Free Speech League

The Free Speech League was a progressive organization in the United States, in the first two decades of the twentieth century, that fought to support freedom of speech in the early years of the twentieth century...

 (a precursor to the American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...

) with Lincoln Steffens

Lincoln Steffens

-Biography:Steffens was born April 6, 1866, in San Francisco. He grew up in a wealthy family and attended a military academy. He studied in France and Germany after graduating from the University of California....

 and others.

Schroeder helped defend his anarchist friend Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....

 at her Denver

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

 trial.

In 1904 Schroeder retired from practicing law and began writing.

At the time of Schroeder's death, a friend Kuhn was preparing for publication another book consisting of reprints of articles written by Schroeder, mainly anti-Mormon

Anti-Mormon

Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed at members of the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

 in nature. The headings of the articles were "Incest in Mormonism," "Polygamy in Congress," "Polygamy and the Constitution," "Polygamy and Inspired Lies," "The Sex-Determinant in Mormon Theology," "Mormonism and Prostitution," "Proxies in Mormon Polygamy," "Was Joseph Smith, 'The Prophet,' an Abortionist?" "Sadism in Mormonism," and "Sanctified Lust."

Death

His writings became the subject of a lawsuit following his death. In his will, Schroeder left his estate to two friends, with the instruction that the money from the estate be used to gather his voluminous writings and publish them. Two of Schroeder's cousins contested the will and successfully voided it.

When upholding a lower court's decision, Judge O'Sullivan of the Connecticut Supreme Court

Connecticut Supreme Court

The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, across the street from the Connecticut State Capitol...

 stated in a unanimous three-judge opinion, "The law will not declare a trust

Trust law

In common law legal systems, a trust is a relationship whereby property is held by one party for the benefit of another...

 valid when the object of the trust, as the finding discloses, is to distribute articles which reek of the sewer. The very enumeration of some of the titles which Schroeder selected for his writings brands them indelibly, and a reading of the article which he called "Prenatal Psychisms and Mystical Pantheism" is a truly nauseating experience in the field of pornography. The trust is invalid as being contrary to public policy

Public policy (law)

In private international law, the public policy doctrine or ordre public concerns the body of principles that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state. This addresses the social, moral and economic values that tie a society together: values that vary in different cultures and change...

."

External Links

• Theodore Schroeder Papers, 1842-1957 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center