It was presaged by a series of local organizations that emerged before the Civil War that sought to combat Sunday laws, bible-reading in public schools, and other government policies perceived to violate religious liberty.
In the fall of 1878 its activity was crippled by the appearance of some of those internal strifes and dissentions which seem to be the inevitable accompaniment of the development of all reformatory organisations.
To screen personal animosities, always contemptible, side issues were introduced, and the essential aim of the League lost sight of.
"[10] Ingersoll resigned from his vice-presidency after the 1879 convention, in opposition to an adopted motion to provide a general defense, rather than his preference to exclude distributors of prurient material and only defend "real Freethought".
[12] Circa November 1901, a faction of the American Secular Union split off, and resumed use of the older "National Liberal League" name.