Court later incorporated into state law most of the specific liberties that are
guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Meyer therefore inaugurated a new era of
judicial activism, extending to the present day, in which the Supreme Court
has jealously and often zealously protected civil liberties from intrusions by
state legislatures.

This book explores the evolution of the statutes that were struck down in
the Meyer, Pierce, and Farringtondecisions. It explains how a complicated
melange of war hysteria, fear of anarchy and Bolshevism, postwar anomie,
nativism, pietism, populism, and progressivism contributed to the enact-
ment of those laws. It also studies the legal arguments that were presented
by proponents and opponents of the statutes and analyzes the reasoning and
enduring significance of the decisions in which the Supreme Court struck
down those laws.

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