Roots of these laws reach deep into the spiritual fervor of colonists who arrived on the East Coast in the 17th century. Always prominent in such reflections are the Puritans of New England, but consider also the 1611 foundation laws of the Anglican colony of Virginia, which are the earliest set of English laws produced in the Western Hemisphere:<\/p>\n
As also every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day in the afternoon to divine service and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and allowance for the whole week following, for the second to lose the said allowance and also to be whipped, and for the third to suffer death.<\/em> Even after the adoption of a secular constitution, blue laws enjoyed widespread support in the U.S. Blue laws were not only supported by religious people, but were also celebrated by organized labor. An online history of the 1909 blue law in Washington state noted the following.<\/p>\n Some labor organizations supported the broad ban the Blue Law placed on commercial activities on Sunday, in order to preserve it as a day off for their members. For example, meat was a product that supposedly could not be sold on Sunday. This gave the butchers\u2019 union a successful argument against merchants requiring butchers to work on that day. <\/em> (from HistoryLink<\/a>).<\/p>\n In the mid to late 20th century, there was a rush to abolish these laws. Now they linger on only in a few isolated locales. I don\u2019t recall hearing any great rationale for this change, just something about them being old fashioned, like the spate of stately Victorian and beaux arts buildings that occasionally got slated for demolition in order to build parking lots or condos. Just one more thing for decent ordinary people to suck up\u2013another thing that couldn\u2019t be stopped\u2013in the name of \u201cprogress.\u201d <\/p>\n To be fair, although I may not recall them, valid arguments have actually been cited. One was that such laws amounted to discrimination against non-Christian minorities. Church-state concerns have also been raised, and have led to court battles, in which the constitutionality of blue laws has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (for example, McGowan vs Maryland<\/em> in 1961). Another reason often advanced is cash flow, an example of which we saw as recently as 2010, when New Jersey governor Chris Christie urged repeal of blue laws in order to increase revenue to the state. He cited Bergen County, one of the last last places to keep its malls closed on Sunday, as \u201ccosting\u201d the state $65 million in potential tax revenue.<\/p>\n The loss of the \u201cblue laws\u201d has not necessarily been to everyone\u2019s advantage. On a clearly economic basis, it is debatable whether the blue laws have actually helped or hurt localities. It may increase some economic activities and diminish others (Goos, 2005<\/a>).<\/p>\n It has clearly harmed attendance at churches, which must now compete with shopping malls and an ever growing variety of Sunday morning activities such as youth sports. (To be clear I don\u2019t believe that blue laws are solely to blame for emptying our churches\u2013many other factors can be cited). In concert with declining church attendance, other social ills can be correlated with this change. One study finds that blue law repeal is associated with a decrease in measures of happiness, particularly among women, even as Sunday shopping has increased. (Cohen-Zada and Sander, 2010<\/a>)<\/p>\n Consider also the findings of a study by economists Jonathan Gruber of MIT and Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame, published in 2008. <\/p>\n Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) on consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs, the economists found that repealing the blue laws did lead to an increase in drinking and drug use.
\n(You can read this document online here<\/a>).<\/p>\n
\nWhat\u2019s more, they found that individuals who had attended church and stopped after the blue laws were repealed showed the greatest increase in substance abuse, Gruber notes.<\/em>(a summary with link to the journal can be found at MIT News<\/a>).<\/p>\n