I'm not entirely sure if it was a felony to threaten violence, but assault was a felony at the founding. The definition of felony was originally "crime that is

I'm not entirely sure if it was a felony to threaten violence, but assault was a felony at the founding. The definition of felony was originally "crime that is punishable by death." You can commit assault without touching someone (but it has to be more than words). I would assume that there were quite a few more consequences for threats than there are today. I would also assume that there was quite a bit of tarring and feathering of people who held deeply unpopular beliefs, because this did happen.