Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent
a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or
any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a
great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that
field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that
that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should
do this.
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world
will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus
far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure
of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
Blue Laws in Old New England.
How the Puritans, Seeking and Finding Toleration for Themselves, Become
Themselves Intolerant--Sunday Observance With a Vengeance--Death
Penalty for Disobedient Children.
_Compiled and edited for_ THE SCRAP BOOK.
People who object to modern laws for the regulation of conduct may, after
all, consider themselves fortunate. Sometimes anti-cigarette laws are
resented as infringements on personal liberty. But what shall we say of a
law under which, in a certain colony, the mere possession of dice or
playing-cards was punishable by a fine?
The old "Blue Laws" of Connecticut, or, strictly, of New Haven Colony, are
not, in their frequently quoted form, true Blue Laws. Attention was first
attracted to the collection by the publication of a "General History of
Connecticut" in England in 1781. The author was a Tory minister, the Rev.
S.A. Peters, who had been forced to flee from the colony. In the
circumstances, it is not remarkable that his volume should bear many signs
of spiteful exaggeration.
The Rev. Mr. Peters, however, did not invent the Blue Laws, though he has
often been charged with so doing. All but two or three of the forty-five
are to be found in the works of earlier writers, or, slightly modified, in
the statute books of the various New England colonies. Many of them are
not in the New Haven statute books. Those which we quote have been
carefully selected from the best obtainable authorities.
The Puritans came to America to find a place where they could practise
their religion without interference. Here are some of the Blue Laws which
indicate the Puritan intolerance of the religion of others:
If any man, after due conviction, shall have, or worship any
other God but the Lord God, he shall be put to death.--Lev.
xxiv:15-16.
If any person turns Quaker, he shall be banished and not
suffered to return upon the pain of death.
No priest shall abide in this Dominion; he shall be
banished, and suffer death on his return. Priests may be
seized by any one without a warrant. (In force before 1656.)
No man shall hold any office who is not sound in the faith,
and faithful to his Dominion; and whoever gives a vote to
such person shall pay a fine of one pound; for a second
offense he shall be disfranchised.
No Quaker or dissenter from the established worship of this
Dominion shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of
magistrates or any officer.
No food or lodging shall be afforded to a Quaker, Adamite,
or other heretic.
How strictly the conduct of the individual was made to conform with
religious rules may be gathered from the following laws as to Sunday
observance, the name of authorities being given in parentheses, in some
instances:
Every person in this jurisdiction, according to the mind of
God, shall duly resort and attend worship upon the Lord's
days at least, and upon public fasting, or thanksgiving
days, and if any person, without just cause, absent, or
withdraw from the same, he shall for every such sinful
miscarriage forfeit five shillings. (1656.)
No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden,
or elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting.
(Barber.)
No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house,
cut hair or shave, on the Sabbath or fasting day. (Barber.)
No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting day.
(Barber.)
Whosoever shall profane the Lord's day, or any part of it,
by work or sport, shall be punished by fine, or corporally.
But if the court, by clear evidence, find that the sin was
proudly, presumptuously, and with a high hand committed
against the command and authority of the blessed God, such
person therein despising and reproaching the Lord shall he
put to death. (1656.)
If any man shall kiss his wife or wife kiss her husband on
the Lord's day, the party in fault shall be punished at the
discretion of the Court of Magistrates.
Tradition says that a man of New Haven reached home on Sunday, after an
absence of several months, and, meeting his wife at the door, kissed her.
For thus violating the law he was arraigned before the court and fined.
Children were given excellent reason to mind their parents, as witness the
following laws:
If any child above sixteen years old shall curse, or smite
his, her or their parents, such child or children shall be
put to death (Exod. xxi:17; Lev. xx:9; Exod. xxi:15), unless
it be proved that the parents have been very unchristianly
negligent in the education of such child, etc. (Eaton.)
If any man have a stubborn, rebellious son of sixteen years
old, who will not obey the voice of his father or mother,
and being chastened will not hearken unto them, then shall
his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him to
the magistrates assembled in court, and testify unto them
that their son is stubborn and rebellious, and will not obey
their voice, but lives in sundry crimes: such a son shall be
put to death. (Enacted 1656.)
Puritan notions of propriety, as enforced by the laws, seem odd to modern
minds. Thus we learn on authority of Barber, as well as from Peters, that
"every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap." Sometimes
half a pumpkin was used instead of a cap, to guide the hair-cutting of
these "Round-heads." Other unique laws follow: