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To be accurate about this, the original novel wasn't in fact "censored" - at least, not in the sense of a government or a court forcing parts of the work to be cut. It was the publishers, Scribners, who wanted the changes, presumably not for any legal or moral reason, but because they believed the book would sell better that way.
Of course, the effect was the same as if a government body had ordered the changes. But it's worth keeping in mind that the motives were commercial rather than moralistic. In that sense, it's not all that different from the many other occasions when publishers request (or require) their authors to make changes to their works, which happens every day.
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