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Cultural Changes In My LifetimeEnd of the Blue Laws

Rummaging through my memories of life as a child in Norfolk, VA, trying to identify changes that seem significant in my lifetime, its not hard to see how much freedom Virginians have achieved in the last sixty years, or so. While I could point to any number of new freedoms that can be traced to technology (like transistor radios, cell phones, the Internet), there are other, more fundamental changes worth making note of before mentioning those changes that seem so obvious. One change that comes to mind is the disappearance of the so-called Blue Laws. The Blue Laws When I was a child, growing up in Ballentine Place, it was illegal at the time (early 50s) for most stores in Virginia to be open on Sunday. There were many laws in effect that prohibited the sale of most retail products, as well as even restrictions on personal (unnecessary) activities. The following links provide some details-http://www.vahistorical.org/onthisday/11574.htm
Sunday-closing laws, often called "blue laws," prohibited certain activities such as alcohol and retail sales on Sunday. In America, these laws date back to the colonial period, starting with the first blue law in 1610 that required the citizens of Jamestown to keep the Sabbath day holy. But it was not until the early twentieth century that such statutes became common. The prohibition movement prompted an increase in legislation regulating public and private conduct, such as restricting the sale of cigarettes and forbidding amusements and all unnecessary work on Sunday. Church groups and some merchants' associations supported these measures, arguing that society would benefit if citizens were required to take a day of rest. In Virginia, people were arrested and fined for such activities as selling Coca-Cola or peanuts, and for showing movies or operating public swimming pools.

Weve come to know these restrictive Sunday (or Sabbath) laws as Blue Laws, since they were originally printed on blue paper in the Connecticut Colony, where there seemed to be quite a few of these sorts of restrictionsgiven the nature of the Puritan mind that dominated the New England Colonies-The Blue laws of New Haven colony: usually called Blue laws of Connecticut http://books.google.com/books? id=Fqmo8b4vPKwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Blue+Laws+of+New+Haven+Colo ny&hl=en&ei=PscITou0JY6gsQO4oanMDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum =1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

My Memory of the Blue Laws As a child of five, or six, having the stores closed on Sunday made no impact on me, and I do not remember my parents ever complaining about not being able to go shopping on Sundays. The early 50s were not too long after the end of WWII, and few families really had much money. Many homes did not have a car, or telephone. People generally spent time at home on Sundays, or visited family, since virtually all of the stores were closed. Toys were hard to come by, and we kids often played games that didnt involve many props. In the summer time, catching fireflies and Kick the Can were great fun. Life was definitely much simpler then, than now. There was a small market at the intersection of Ballentine Blvd. and East Princess Anne Road which was open on Sundays, however-Spartan Market (Corner of Ballentine Blvd./Princess Anne Road): http://www.flickr.com/photos/28767526@N06/5881500775/in/photostream Although mother did most of her grocery shopping at the supermarket on Lafayette Blvd., just beyond the Ballentine Place border, she also shopped at this market often. (Unfortunately, I can not remember the markets name. The History of Ballentine Place mentions a Winslows Market, although not exactly at this location.) I dont know when this market became Spartan Market, but it would appear to have been some time ago, based on the age of the sign over the markets front door. When I got to be eight or nine, mother would send me to this market on my bike for things that she needed. It was on those Sunday trips that I came face-to-face with the Blue Laws. All of the markets produce was covered with blue sheets (or blue cloth); the meat displays were empty. The store was mostly empty of shoppers, unlike the other six days of the week. We could only buy canned goods for the most part, although I cant remember if we could buy products like bread. Seems to me that the general rule was anything that required labor to prepare was prohibited for sale on Sundaya rule that closely aligned with Old Testament prohibitions about working on the Sabbath. There didnt seem to be much in the way of secular reasoning for these laws being in existence, other than everyone needs a day off. At that time, on Sundays, peoples personal lives seemed to be in the control of religion, whether they were believers, or not. Eventually, the blue sheets disappeared from this market on Sundays, although I cant remember when. I dont remember seeing the blue sheets after the mid-1950s, but have no clear memory when they disappeared, or why. Given that prosperity was finally catching up with most Americans in the mid-1950s, people needed to be able to spend their newly acquired wealth, so stores started to open on Sundays to help them spend the money that they were working hard to earn. Enforcement of the Blue Laws became impossibleso they were slowly abandoned, but not without much legislative action in the 1970s, and 1980s, required to rescind these laws.

Where Did Blue Laws Come From? As children, we just accept what is and generally dont ponder the deeper questions of life, such as how can Americans be prohibited by their government as what they can buy Sunday? This is (and was) one of the questions that requires a rigorous study of Virginia, and US, history to fully appreciate. We have to go all the way back to the Jamestown Colony to find the first Blue Laws in Virginia. During the early days, life in the Jamestown Colony was very hard, and each persons religious obligations were not taken lightly. The influence of religion over the individual, and the individuals of the Colony as a whole, can be seen in extracts from early Virginia laws-Laws and Documents relating to religion in early Virginia, 1606-1660: http://www.virtualjamestown.org/rlaws.html

August 4, 1619 All ministers shall duely read divine service, and exercise their ministerial function according to the Ecclesiastical lawes and orders of the churche of Englande, and every Sunday in the afternoon shall Catechize suche as are not yet ripe to come to t he Com[munion]. And whosoever of them shalbe found negligent or faulty in this kinde shalbe subject to the censure of the Governor and Counsell of Estate. [Throughout the first half of the seventeeth century, many laws relating to religion, some quite severe, were passed by the Jamestown assembly. All show clearly the extent to which religion played a central role in the government of Virginia.] March 5, 1624 1. That there shall be in every plantation, where the people use to meete for the worship of God, a house or room sequestred for that purpose, and not to be for any temporal use whatsoever, and a place empaled in, sequestred only to the buryal of the dea d. 2. That whosover shall absent himselfe from divine service any Sunday without an allowable excuse shall forfeite a pound of tobacco, and he that absenteth himselfe a month shall forfeit 50lb. of tobacco. 3. That there be an uniformity in our church as neere as may be to the canons in England; both in substance and circumstance, and that all persons yeild readie obedience unto them under paine of censure.

That the 22d of March [in commemoration of the Anglo-Indian conflict of 1622] be yeerly solemnized as holliday, and all other hollidays (except when they fall two together) betwixt the feast of the annuntiation of the blessed virgin and St. Michael the archangell, then only the first to be observed by reason of our necessities. 5. That no minister be absent from his church above two months in all the yeare upon penalty of forfeiting halfe his means, and whosoever shall absent above fowre months in the year shall forfeit his whole means and cure. 6. That whosoever shall disparage a minister without bringing sufficient proofe to justify his reports whereby the mindes of his parishioners may be alienated from him, and his ministry prove less effectual by their prejudication, shall not only pay 500l b. waight of tobacco but also aske the minister so wronged forgiveness publickly in the congregation. 7. That no man dispose of any of his tobacco before the minister be satisfied, upon paine of forfeiture double his part of the ministers means, and one man of every plantation to collect his means out of the first and best tobacco and corn. Hening, I, 122-124.
4. The highlighted section of text (from the following web-page that deals with religion in the Jamestown Colony), explains just how serious the Cavaliers were, where their religious obligations were concerned: http://www.historyisfun.org/pdf/Background-Essays/ReligionatJamestown.pdf There was little opportunity for men working in the vicinity of James Fort to avoid the required church services. The Captain of the Watch was under instructions to round up all persons, except those sick or injured, and bring them to the Church at the appropriate times. The laws prescribed a range of punishments for those who failed to attend services, as well as for the minister if he failed to conduct a service. Missing one would cost the settler his ration of food for the day. Additional absences received increasingly severe punishments and could result in death. There are no historic records of enforced punishments given in relation to church attendance at Jamestown. The following books, available on-line, provide details about life in the early colonies, under the heavy hand of government, controlled in large part, by the religious/political class (ministers and church elders): History of Blue Laws:

http://books.google.com/books? id=vZ4UE_ckTsYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=blue+laws&hl=en&ei=fAIKTs_GIIbCsA OmuqWmDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v= onepage&q&f=false The blue laws of Connecticut: taken from the code of 1650 and the public ..: http://books.google.com/books? id=cDcAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3&dq=blue+laws&hl=en&ei=fAIKTs_GIIbCsAOmuqW mDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepag e&q&f=false The following are links into the Google/Newspaper Archive of old newspapers, which provide more than a little insight into the impact of these laws on peoples lives, over the years NYT/Bill To Stop Gambling (Feb., 1892): http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf? res=F00916FF3C5F1B738DDDA10994DA405B8285F0D3 News and Courier/Blue Laws in Virginia (1892): http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=dTpJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VwkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1074,2036910&dq=virginia+bluelaws&hl=en Ye Olden Blue Laws (1921): http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924018815443 Prohibition (the Ultimate Blue Law) Prohibition, the ultimate Blue Law that ever bedeviled the American people, was ended in 1933, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States after more than a decade of massive resistance by people all over the country. No doubt the futility of this heavy-handed attempt by moralists, using the Federal Government, to socially engineer the behavior of a whole nation, helped to bring this era (error) of selfgovernment to an end. Even though Prohibition had come and gone before I was born, Virginia State government has controlled alcohol distribution via its ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) stores once alcohol consumption was no longer a Federal crime. The fight to end the Blue Laws and bringing liquor by the drink to Virginia was fought well into the 1980s.

The "ABC" of Legal Liquor in Virginia: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/alcohol/abc.html Efforts to privative the sale of alcohol in Virginia have failed, to date, but the effort to allow the private sector to distribute alcohol continues; Privatizing Alcohol Distribution in VA: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.drink.beer/browse_thread/thread/6ebf6abcb9cb1 aae?pli=1 As this colossally bad idea became history, people around the country also began to question the need for the Blue Laws, and legislatures in the various states began to debate the continued need for Blue Laws. End of the Blue Laws Changes in society, driven by the growing prosperity of the 1950s, increased education in the general population, fueled by former soldiers, sailors, and airmen, entering the workforce with newly-minted college degrees in the 1950s, facilitated the ending of the Blue Lawsa process that was to take decades of the slow chipping away of these aged laws to complete. The links below point to a small number of newspaper articles from various points in time that discuss the impact of the Blue Laws on people, and society, in general NYT/A Century of Blue Laws (1921): http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf? res=F70714F9345B1B7A93CBAB178ED85F458285F9 The Pittsburgh Press/Repeal of Blue Laws Linked to Economic Loss (March, 1933): http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=m3AbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZksEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1170,254891&dq=blue-laws&hl=en San Jose News/500 Caught By Delaware Blue Laws (March, 1941): http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=HFoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9KoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1076,164407&dq=blue-laws&hl=en The Telegraph-Herald/Delaware Votes To Abolish Blue Laws (March, 1941): http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=pxNRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IssMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5292,3548058&dq=blue-laws&hl=en Sunday Blue Laws Not Religious, Supreme Court Says: http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=t04fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jdEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2124,5059342&dq=blue-laws&hl=en

St. Louis Sunday News Presser/Blue Laws Around The County (1960): http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=2SpUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IjoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=667,6012167&dq=blue+laws+virginia &hl=en Fredericksburg Freelance Star (1960): http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=b9dQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6ucDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6028,2944976&dq=blue+laws+virgi nia&hl=en Webb said that his real quarrel with the blue laws stems from a deepseated belief that they constitute an arbitrary and unwarranted influence on the rights of a free people to decide for themselves how they will employ their time, conduct their business, and respect the Sabbath. Fredericksburg Free Lance/Feb. 9th, 1973: http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=wvZNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HIsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6405,981117&dq=blue+laws+virgin ia&hl=en Conclusion This whole issue of the imposition of the Blue Laws on an otherwise free people causes us to ponder the nature of our American experience--particularly where individual freedoms vs group belief systems are concerned. In the case of the Blue Laws, we see how government, through the legal system perpetrated the religious beliefs that predated the 16th Century into the 20th Century. We have to confront the reality that our legal system seems to be more blind than not, to the realities of an evolving society requiring constant oversight, and modification, by the political process, forcing the legislative branches of our government to protect our individual rights and freedoms. The history of the Blue Laws in Virginia has not been one that should make us Virginians proud, given how heavy-handed these laws were, and how long they stayed on the books. This is doubly true, since Virginia was a leader in the move to separate the Colonies from Mother Britain, and to provide an intellectual framework (via the writings of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe) for this new nation to grow, and prosper, in the newly-inspired freedoms of the Enlightenment. I moved out of Virginia in the late 1960s, to places where the Blue Laws had been previously rescinded, or were simply ignored. So, my memories of these attempts at social control are limited to those of a young child. But as an adult, the fact that these laws stayed on in effect for as long as they did, and how hard they were to remove, has occupied many hours of thought, and research.

Liberty, and freedom, are so very fragileas History records. History also records how easily liberty and freedom can be lost, even here in the United States, when we do not monitor our government continuouslyand hold it accountable, by whatever means necessary. Let us all hope that future Virginians will not allow themselves to be taken hostage as former generations wereby some new version of the Blue Laws.

Wayne Martin July 4th, 2011

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