Background.

For Americans of the early republic, theater was the most suspect of all the fine arts. A deeply rooted belief in the immorality of theater, dating from the Puritans, led some colonies to prohibit stage productions before the Revolution. Following the war, theatrical companies that had ceased to operate because of wartime restrictions tried to revive themselves. They first had to petition state legislatures for permission to perform, often provoking sharp opposition. The debate was especially fierce in Philadelphia, and similar disputes took place in New York, Charleston, Boston, and other cities. Opponents saw the theater as conducive to dissipation and vice. Plays came under fire for their often bawdy language and for plots involving immoral topics, especially seduction. Actors were portrayed as people of loose morals, prone to debauchery.

Democratic Audiences.

Critics found the composition and behavior of theater...