Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-05-03
LEGAL ASPECT OF THE SUNDAY
QUESTION.
An Address by Hon. Henry Graft, in
the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church at Memphis.

In Difference to request that did
not know how to refuse, but l assure
YOU with great reluctance, have con>
sented to state what, in my view, is
the illegal aspect of the Sunday ques>
ton" You will understand that / I'M
dertake to speak from an investigation
hurriedly made.
You all know that in its common ac-
ceptance, the word claw" means rule
of conduct. If it is rule, of course
it implies that there is some superior
power which has the right to prescribe
that rule, which has the right to say
what conduct shall be. In a govern
ment like ours, we recognize the peo>
pie originally as the source of all power;
and all law, therefore, as eminating
from the people, and as being an ex-
preston of the peoples will. When
we talk of law in the United States,
we talk of what the people desire
should be the rule of conduct. Civil
liberty, therefore, as distinguished from
the government which is arbitrary, is
the operation of self.imposed law oper-
ating equally upon all.
The idea of law involves restraint.
Therefore when we speak of law in
government like this where the major
ity must rule, we understand that we
speak of system in which, while the
majority is to govern, the minority
finds its protection in the fact that upon
the majority, as we'll as upon the mi
nority, the law is to operate. In order
to be law, therefore, under our sys-
tenn, it must be in accordance with the
will of the people, and it must be
something operating alike upon all peo-
pie. We know no favorites under the
law; we know no such thing as law
for one and not for another; we know
no such thing as restraint which can
be imposed upon you from which l
shall have immunity. When a free
people desire therefore to construct a
government and make system Of
laws, they come together through their
representatives, and thus, in what they
call convention" lay down certain
broad general principles which are to
be regarded as the foundation of the
government which they are organizing.
That work, when it is completed, we
know as the Constitution" something
that builds together; something that
holds together. The constitution,
therefore, is the agreement of the PEG
pie through their representatives OIL
convention, as to the principles upor
which they shall be governed. 1t i'm
poses restriction upon the Legislative
power. Laws must be made by mer
assembled in a legislative capacity, anC
must be administered by executive anC
judicial officers. The question is al
ways pertinent in regard to any law
els it constitutional" Our Legisla
ture is subject only to the limitations o
the Constitution; and, within thos
limitations, omnipotent. Every act o
the Legislature is valid unless it vic
lateS some principle Of the constitution
Our supreme Court has said that 20,
cannot attack law upon the idea tina
it is opposed to the "genius of republi
can government" or upon the theor.
that there is something in the spiri
which pervades our system that is in
consistent with the law; but whel
you want to show that the action Q
the Legislature is improper, you mus
put your finger upon the line or upo
the page of the constitution which cor
dennis it.
Now it has been asserted in this com
munity, broadly and strongly, that th
Sunday laws are unconstitutional ur
constitutional under the Constitution {
the United States; demonstrations
under the law of our State; disgrace
full to the State and to the people; an
more than all, it has been said this
through them the church seeks to fa'
ten upon the body polite the manaclt
of its superstition, and to hold the pc,
pie bound down by theory which
has brought from the dark ages, an