Even Jefferson and Madison, touted by today’s liberal groups as champions of tolerance, strongly opposed anything except monogamous heterosexual relationships. This is established by the fact that they enacted the death penalty for bigamy and polygamy and that Jefferson himself proposed “castration” as the penalty for sodomy.
Although the argument has been raised for generations that any moral behavior or belief should be protected by the Constitution an argument which has always been consistently denied and refuted by responsible courts the difference is that today’s courts seem determined to sustain it. City Council of Charleston v. S. A. Benjamin, 1846 Supreme Court of South Carolina At issue in the following cases were violations of what today are called “Blue Laws,” or Sunday closing laws.
The question often surrounding such laws was whether they were a specific legislation of Christianity to the exclusion of all other beliefs. Many courts believed that this was not necessarily so; they pointed out, first, that no particular day had been established by God’s decree as the Sabbath in the New Testament, and second, that the Apostles themselves allowed great latitude on this issue. Consequently, these courts held that while Blue Laws were generally associated with religion, they were not necessarily religious mandates. Further, since days of rest had been proved to have clear secular benefits on both public health and morale, these courts.
Following the French Revolution 1789, France made a calendar change so that workers were allowed one day rest in ten rather than the traditional religiously based one in seven. See, for example, Noah Webster, The Revolution in France Considered in Respect to Its Progress and Effects New York: George Bunce, 1794, p. 20. Apparently, the result on the workers’ health and morale was so detrimental that the one day rest in seven was reinstituted. ruled that such laws fell within the State’s legislative prerogative as the U. S. Constitution had phrased it to “promote the general welfare” of its citizens.
For example emphasis added in each example: The legislature of the State has the power, under the Constitution, to prohibit work on Sunday as a matter pertaining to the civil wellbeing of the community. Melvin V. Easley It a day of rest enables the industrious workman to pursue his occupation in the ensuing week with health and cheerfulness without it; he would be worn out and defaced by an unremitted continuance of labor. Johnston V. Commonwealth.
David Barton: I zonked out. I was like on the Starship Enterprise mentally. I was gone. I had the words in front of me and I couldn't talk.
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