Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-03
origin Of blue Laws in Virginia
Legislative assembly Meeting in 4merina Held at
amtun Recalls Clothes, Morals and Other Personal Ata"s
I,a0abk to This First Lau-Dlakug Body

who were not old enough for the enjoymene
Of the full religious ritual, were to be educated
in the meaning Of the service. This, too, was
compulsory for any one failing to attend the
instruction course was to be punished.
Laws also passed by this first legisla-
ture against idleness, gambling, drunkenness
and truly New England touch) against ex-
cessive wearing of apparel! Both men and
women were subject to rebuke If they dis
played too much love of finery.
immortality particularly was singled out Tor
reproof. If the first penalty was not sufficient
the guilty one was to be excommunicated,
which was synonymous with loss of citizen
ship, and his property would be confiscated:
but the governor of the colony was to review
all such extreme verdicts to prevent possible
excuses of judgment.
For swearing o fine of shillngs to be
assessed, or. If the convicted one was servant
the penalty was whipping. Thus it is evident
that the earliest Virginians were much more
Puritan in their outlook on life than Cavalier
for the regulation of wearing apparel was alien
to the Cavalier thought. Moreover, the Or
dinances in general were intended to make
people good by law.
The Indians were not overlooked in this re-
hgious zeal. It was stipulated that each town
or settlement In the colony was to select
promising Indian children for training in the
Christian faith, so as to carry out one of the
stated purposes of the colony when it was con-
ceived in London, namely. to advance the
kingdom Of God on earth by converting the
heather savages in the New World.
This first Assembly had a broad outlook.
petition was addressed to the officers Of the
Virginia Company in London to assist in the
establishment of a university or college by
sending out artisans and others from England
who could help in the task, thereby showing
a determination Of the colonists to reproduce
in America the full civilization of the mother
country educational, no less than civil and
religious.
Virginia received many other kinds of settlers
than Cavaliers, even the first shipload having
a variety instead of being limited to the
Cavalier type, for the first charter, to Sir
Walter Raleigh, sounded restraining note:
It shall be necessary for the safety
of all men that shall adventure them
selves in those journeys and voyages to
determine to live together in Christian
peace and civil quetness each with
other.
CNCE there was bitter religious and political
strife In England at the time between the
Puritans, or non-conformists, and the estab-
lished church, and since the colonists would
include non-conformists and conformists, poor
as well as rich and commoners well az
gentlemen, 1t was necessary to admonish them
to be tolerant. This passage in Raieighs
charter may well stand as the beginning Of the
liberation which to be developed finally Nm
1857 In the Constitution of the United States
after much growth in understanding and as
sistance by the experiences of the other Colo
MES,
The year 1919 also the Introduction OF
slavery In America with the landing in Virginia
of African slaves by Dutch ship. Thus side
by side In that year began the democratic
system which, the famous Virgmian OF the
next century was to state, held that AL men
are created free and equal and have certain
iuol rights which lie. I1D~
erty and the pursuit of happiness" and the
slavery system which was to cost Virginia mucn
blood and treasure oefore it was overthroWn
more than two centuries later in the Civil War.
To further dilute the Cavalier aspect of Viz.
GINA there were sent out convicts from Eng"
land and others the mother country wished TO
rid herself Of some of whom were first Offend
ers or failures. who wanted new~start In
life and made good in America. The result
was that Virginia was Cavalier in certain ex-
ternal ways such as in the love of great estates
and formal, luxurious living but on all vital
questions of the day in the Colony, or in the
Joint action of the Colonies against England.
Virginia was essentially Puritan.
If Virginia had been as Cavalier as some
think the state was, historians are pointing
out virginia would not have been so whole
heartedly with the other Colonies in the War
for Independence, but would have sided with
the monarchical party in England. On the
contrary, Virginia was so much against all that
the CavaIler STOOD Ior In England tlat tae
State furnished the commander in chief to the
Continental army, Washington, and, there
after four out of the first five Presidents OF
the United States were Virginians
Thomas Jefferson, the Vrginian who wrote
the Declaration of Independence, had many
Puritan outlooks hfe for he was against
slavery, fought against union of church and
state as the Puritans did in England and In
the New England Colonies, and was the author
of the noted liberation act of Virginia.