As 1917 unfolded, technical difficulties arose and persuasive arguments from supporters of the late Anthony Comstock came to the attention of Mint Director F. J. H. von Engelken, who relented to pressure from both MacNeil the designer and the unrelenting power of Comstock's Society for the Suppression of Vice and authorized (without Congressional approval whatsoever) to allow for changes to the Type I style of 1917 quarters. MacNeil alleged that the dies, as finished in the Mint, were untrue to his design conception (true enough, with Charles Barber's tinkering of the design elements and placement).

Meanwhile a torrent of venom rained down that these initial quarters were obscene as Liberty's breast was exposed, and that all should be recalled and destroyed. Similar pressure from the Society for the Suppression of Vice had accomplished this goal on the elegant $5 Educational bills of 1896, which were recalled due to a similar breast exposure that simply could not be allowed in their prudish world. Troubled design launches were commonplace at the Mint in this period, and these Standing Liberty quarters are representative of this fact.

While Mint Director F. J. H. von Engelken was catching flak from all sides, the designer MacNeil, the morality moderators of America in the Society for the Suppression of Vice and even his own feelings that the design was not adequate. Director von Engelken suggested that MacNeil write to Treasury Secretary W. G. McAdoo, who gave MacNeil permission to enter the Mint's Engraving Department to make his requested modifications to the design. These included increasing the concavity of the fields, moving the eagle higher and placing three of the stars below and respacing of the inscriptions. McAdoo went through the proper channels too, requesting on April 16, 1917 permission from the House Committee Chairman on Coinage, Weights and Measures Mr. William Ashbrook to make these modifications. Ashbrook, understanding political expediency proposed MacNeil's suggested changes with a note that the Type I quarters would not stack, which induced a storm of criticism on the Mint, but soon the changes were authorized as proposed. The law was enacted on July 9, 1917, Public Law 27 specifically stated that no change should be made to the devices other than those specified.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the Summer 2022 Global Showcase Auction, where it realized $114,000.