Blue Laws Quotes
The motion to go on record against the Blue Law the closing of the World’s Fair on Sunday was supported by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a few other leaders but it was too controversial to carry.
In the 17th century American Plymouth Colony there were a series of tasks that had to be performed every day for the survival and benefit of the community. The workload was shared by all citizens. One Christmas some of the younger men decided not to work on religious grounds believing that their religious interpretation forbad work on Christmas. They were excused, but soon the Governor discovered that all the young men in question were playing and sporting in the street. They were embarrassed and all went home.
In effect this was one of the earliest civil Blue Laws.
The British Women’s Temperance Union was a firm advocate of the banning of ice cream shops as well as saloons on the Sabbath.
Shabbat is the Hebrew word for the Sabbath. In Israel there is conflict between ultra-orthodox Jews on the one side and secular Jews, Christians and Arabs on the other regarding store openings and closings on Saturday—the Jewish Sabbath. The orthodox want the power of the state to force stores to close on the Sabbath. The others want the freedom of the individual to either close or open a store, to shop or not to shop, to keep Friday as the Sabbath as the Muslims do, Saturday as the Jews and a few Christian sects do, or Sunday as most Christians do. This used to be a major issue in the United States. Local communities all had what were called “Blue Laws” that controlled the Sabbath. The courts however found these unconstitutional and these issues have disappeared as political issues in America.
Sunday Excise Laws, sometimes called “Blue Laws”, prohibited commercial activity on Sunday, the day most Christians believe to be the Sabbath. Then such laws had not been constitutionally tested and when the were later were they were all found to be unconstitutional. Some Christian sects believe that Saturday is the Sabbath as do most Jews. Muslims believe Friday is the Sabbath. So any state determination on the Sabbath favors some religious viewpoint and discriminates against others. Today, decisions about Sabbath are left to individual consumers and store owners. Saloon keepers were particularly hard hit if they catered to the working man as in those days people worked a 6 day week and Sunday was the only day that people had leisure time. When TR became Police Commissioner, the law was on the books but rarely enforced as they were unpopular with most of the population—the orthodox Christians excepted. He felt obligated to enforce it even if he thought it too strict himself.
This establishment and enforcement of the Christian Sabbath was really made unconstitutional when the Constitution including the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1789. None the less, many communities in the United States maintained laws and law enforcement regarding the Christian Sabbath (called “Blue Laws”) for years. It was only into the 20th century before the practice died out after a number of cases were declared unconstitutional. Even into the 20th century, there are occasional cases where communities try and use the civil law to enforce their religious beliefs about the Sabbath. There was even a Jewish community in upstate New York which passed laws enforcing the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday. That also was a violation of the First Amendment and thus was unconstitutional.
This is a fascinating several day holiday in that it not only was a time of required merriment, but all parts of society participated and the normal inequities of Roman society were “reformed” and eliminated for the holiday period. Thus it acted as a safety valve. Consider the notion that such a holiday were celebrated in the slave-holding South. It would not be possible. Roman slavery was understood by all to be a matter of luck and circumstances. Often slaves were much better educated than their masters or better businessmen or soldiers. American slavery was much more hypocritical where the whites created an intellectual justification of the slavery by the inferiority of the Blacks. Giving slaves “equal rights” for a holiday would collapse the edifice they had created. So it took a war to collapse it.
Sunday Excise Laws, sometimes called “Blue Laws”, prohibited commercial activity on Sunday, the day most Christians believe to be the Sabbath. Then such laws had not been constitutionally tested and when the were later were they were all found to be unconstitutional. Some Christian sects believe that Saturday is the Sabbath as do most Jews. Muslims believe Friday is the Sabbath. So any state determination on the Sabbath favors some religious viewpoint and discriminates against others. Today, decisions about Sabbath are left to individual consumers and store owners.
In 1836, Sir Andrew Agnew introduced into the House of Commons the Sunday Observance Bill, by which almost all activities other than "works of piety, charity, or necessity" would be outlawed on Sunday. Writing under the name "Timothy Sparks," Charles Dickens noted that enforced Sunday observance would transform:
