gag law

noun

any law restricting freedom of the press, free speech, or the right of petition.
gag rule.

Origin of gag law¹

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800

So read the gag-law, as it was called, introduced in the House by Mr. Atherton.

If the gag-law was attempted to be put in force, he would resist it to the last.

But now that the minority had to take it up, the Senate is told there must be a gag law.

This rule, in his opinion, much more deserved the character of a "Gag-law," than the Sedition law did.

Was it fit or becoming, after fifty years of unrestrained liberty, to threaten it with a gag law?

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