West Port Experiment

Here’s a delightful old volume on Sabbath laws in the United States. As I skim through these, a few short observations. 1. We have collectively forgotten what was once a cultural norm. Hence the fitness of the imperative, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” 2. Freedom of thought, speech, and religion obviously had a big asterisk (at least from our 2024 context). Tolerance was clearly not a free-for-all for every pagan and libertine. 3. This gives the lie to the radical secular-sanitizing narratives of liberals who decry ‘Christian nationalism,’ as well as the hardcore R2K types like Daryl Hart who make strange bedfellows with the same.

A few samples from states in which I’ve lived:

IOWA (1888, 1902): “If any person be found on the first day of the week, commonly called Sabbath, engaged in any riot, fighting, or offering to fight, or hunting, shooting, carrying fire-arms, fishing, horse-racing, dancing, or in any manner disturbing any worshipping assembly, or private family; or in buying or selling property of any kind, or in any labor, the work of necessity and charity only excepted, every person so offending shall, on conviction, be fined in a sum not more than five dollars nor less than one dollar, to be recovered before any Justice of the peace in the county where such offense is committed, and shall be committed to the jail of said county until the said fine, together with the costs of prosecution, shall be paid; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to extend to those who conscientiously observe the seventh day of the week, as the Sabbath, or to prevent persons traveling, or families emigrating, from pursuing their journey, or keepers of toll-bridges, toll-gates, and ferry-men from attending the same.”

FLORIDA (1892): “Whoever follows any pursuit, business or trade on Sunday either by manual labor or with animal or mechanical power, except the same be work of necessity, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. Whoever keeps open store or disposes of any wares, merchandise, goods or chattels on Sunday, or sells or barters the same, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. In cases of emergency or necessity, however, merchants, shop-keepers, and others may dispose of the comforts and necessaries of life to customers, without keeping open doors. Whoever employs his apprentice or servant in labor or other business on Sunday, except it be in the ordinary household business of daily necessity, or other work of necessity or charity, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten dollars for every such offense.”

And drumroll please . . . blue laws from the colony, then state that pioneered unfettered religious toleration:

RHODE ISLAND (1896): “Every person who shall do or exercise any labor or business or work of his ordinary calling, or use any game, sport, play or recreation on the first day of the week, or suffer the same to be done or used by his children, servants or apprentices, works of necessity and charity only excepted, shall be fined not exceeding five dollars for the first offense and ten dollars for the second and every subsequent offense. Every person who shall employ, improve, set to work or encourage the servant of any other person to commit any act named in the preceding section shall suffer the like punishment.”