Eh, not really. Before 1969, it was totally legitimate to pass laws restricting or even criminalizing speech, to an extent at least as severe as what prevails in Germany today. One of the first things our country did after adopting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights was to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts, which among other things outlawed criticism of the incumbent government. The Sedition Act was allowed to expire, and was never declared unconstitutional (though Jeffersonians believed it was).

It was only since the decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio that the First Amendment has been interpreted broadly enough to protect all speech that is not otherwise itself an illegal act (as in CSAM) or does not incite "imminent lawless action".