750 



SUNDAY LEGISLATION". 



to that of the Cromwellian period. This leg- 

 islation also included " legal fast days," as 

 early as 1693. Many of these Scotch laws are 

 still in force. 



The first Sunday law in America was en- 

 acted in Virginia, previous to 1623. It pun- 

 ished absence from church service on Sunday, 

 without excuse, by the forfeiture of fifty pounds 

 of tobacco. But the representative and most 

 important type of Sunday legislation during 

 the colonial period, appeared in the New Eng- 

 land colonies. The early government of these 

 colonies was theocratic, after the Jewish model ; 

 and all Sunday legislation was analogous to, or 

 identical with, the Mosaic legislation concern- 

 ing the Sabbath (Saturday). This legislation 

 began in the Plymouth Colony as early as 1650, 

 previous to which time the common law of 

 England was regnant in the colonies. All this 

 colonial legislation was emphatically religious. 

 The usual punishments were fine, imprison- 

 ment, whipping, caging, and setting in the 

 stocks. This legislation forbade servile work, 

 and even the simplest forms of recreation, not 

 excepting " walking in the streets or fields 

 after sunset on Saturday night, and before 

 sunset on Sunday." It also required attend- 

 ance on such public worship as was legally 

 established, and forbade all other. Police 

 regulations were rigidly enforced. Sunday ex- 

 cise legislation began in the Plymouth Colony 

 as early as 1662. By a law enacted in that 

 year at Plymouth, those having occasion to 

 travel, " in case of clanger of death, or such 

 necessitous occasion," were to receive a ticket 

 from one appointed for that purpose, without 

 which the traveler was liable to arrest by any 

 person. Servile work and sports were also 

 forbidden on days of public fasting, prayer, 

 and thanksgiving. In 1665, in the Plymouth 

 Colony, sleeping in church was forbidden, un- 

 der penalty of being admonished for the first 

 offense, set in the stocks for the second, and 

 being reported to the court for further pun- 

 ishment if this did not reclaim. In 1669 sleep- 

 ing and playing outside the building, and near 

 the meeting-house, were also forbidden, under 

 penalty. A fine of twelve-pence was inflicted 

 upon "any person or persons that shall be 

 found smoking of tobacco on the Lord's Day, 

 going to or coming from the meetings, within 

 two miles of the meeting-bouse." 



The first Sunday legislation in the Massa- 

 chusetts Bay Colony was in 1629. This or- 

 dered the cessation of all labor on " every 

 Saturday throughout- the year, at three of the 

 clock in the afternoon," and the spending of 

 the rest of that day in " catechizing and prepa- 

 ration for the Sabbath, as the ministers shall 

 direct." In 1644, among the answers of the 

 reverend elders to certain questions propounded 

 to them, they agreed that "any sin committed 

 with a high hand, as the gathering of sticks on 

 the Sabbath-day, may be punished with death, 

 when a lesser punishment might serve for 

 gathering sticks privily and in some need." 



The first draft of certain laws for this colony 

 made "profaning the Lord's Day, in a careless 

 or scornful neglect or contempt thereof," a 

 capital crime. This form of the law was 

 erased from the code as finally adopted. In 

 1679 the General Court at Boston set a special 

 guard "from sunset on Saturday night until 

 nine of the clock or after, between the fortifi- 

 cation and the town's end," with instructions 

 not to permit any cart, footman, or horseman to 

 pass out of the town, except upon such neces- 

 sity as the guard deemed sufficient. Those 

 who disregarded the challenge of the guard 

 were proceeded against as " Sabbath-breakers." 



Sunday legislation in the New Haven Colony 

 began in 1647. It forbade all work from sunset 

 to sunset, with punishment according to the 

 judgment of the court. About this time, also, 

 profaning Sunday, " either by sinful, servile 

 work, unlawful sports, or careless neglect, was 

 punished by fine, imprisonment, or whipping," 

 and upon evidence that the " sin was proudly, 

 presumptuously, and with a high hand com- 

 mitted, against the known authority of the 

 blessed God, such a person therein disobeying 

 and reproaching the Lord shall be put to death, 

 that all others may fear and shun such pro- 

 voking and rebellious courses." In the colony 

 of Connecticut there were at first no special 

 statutes concerning Sunday. The code of 1650 

 punished burglary or theft, " in the fields or in 

 the house, on the Lord's Day," by the loss of 

 one ear for the first offense, and the second ear 

 for the second offense. For the third offense, 

 "he shall be put to death." These require- 

 ments were often repeated, being enlarged or 

 changed in minor particulars. 



Sunday legislation in the colony of Rhode 

 Island was less severe than in those already 

 noticed ; but there was a general prohibition 

 of labor, gaming, shooting, drinking, etc. In 

 the colony of New Netherlands (New York) in 

 1647, the dictator issued a proclamation against 

 " Sabbath-breaking, brawling, and drunken- 

 ness." In the colony of Pennsylvania the early 

 Sunday legislation was much more lenient than 

 in New England. Virginia led in Sunday leg- 

 islation, although that legislation never reached 

 such extreme features as were common in New 

 England. The Sunday laws of New England 

 were not a dead letter ; many examples of 

 punishment for " Sabbath-breaking " are on 

 record, while the majority of cases were tried 

 in the lower courts, concerning which no rec- 

 ord remains. 



The Sunday laws of the colonial period passed 

 into the legislation of the States, but in most 

 instances were considerably modified. Natu- 

 rally the Eastern States, where colonial influ- 

 ences had been strongest, retained more of the 

 rigid features of the earlier laws. The influ- 

 ences connected with the Revolutionary War 

 diminished religious regard for Sunday in no 

 small degree, and the stricter features were 

 gradually eliminated from subsequent legisla- 

 tion. The Sunday laws of the Western and 



