hanging in effigy

     To hang someone "in effigy" ( eff ih gee ) meant to hang a dummy, perhaps made of real clothing with a stuffed sack for a head. The "effigy" might have a sign on it, with the name of the person who was "hanged", and the reason for the "hanging". During the years before the American Revolution, hanging in effigy was a popular form of political protest. Although it made a gruesome display ( criminals were still hanged at the time), it was not usually meant as a threat of actual violence. It was punished as a crime because speaking out against the government or its policies was considered sedition, or perhaps treason.
     Our Constitution guarantees us freedom of speech, which in recent years has been extended to "symbolic speech"--cartoons, images, and other symbols. Symbolic speech would not be considered sedition or treason, but a display of "hanging in effigy" might still be prosecuted as  a form of terrorism or making terroristic threats, since the effigy is meant to represent a real person.