The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
For approximately 20 years, from 1810 to 1830, there was an ongoing battle fought between the religious traditionalists (conservatives) and members of the government over the lack of Sabbath recognition. Mails were transported and delivered on Sundays and Congress had passed an act requiring post offices to be open for at least an hour each Sunday for the pick up of mail by individuals, etc.
| Researched and edited by Jim Allison |
RICHARD M. JOHNSON, REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICES AND POST ROADS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1830
"The law, as it now exists, makes no distinction as to the days of the week, but is imperative, that the Postmasters shall attend at all reasonable hours in every day to perform the duties of their offices; and the Postmaster General has given his instructions to all Postmasters, that, at post offices where the mail arrives on Sunday, the office is to be kept open one hour or more after the arrival and asserting of the mail."
"Why have the petitioners confined their prayer to the mails! Why have they not requested that the Government be required to suspend all its executive functions in that day! Why do they not require us to exact that our ships shall not sail, that our armies shall not march, that officers of justice shall not seize the suspected, or guard the convicted? The spirit of evil does not rest on that day. They seem to forget that government is as necessary on Sunday as on any other day of the week. It is the Government ever active in its functions which enables us all, even the petitioners, to worship in our churches in peace. Our Government furnishes very few blessings like our mails. They bear, from the centre of our Republic to its distant extremes, the acts of our legislative bodies, the decisions of the justiciary, and the orders of the Executive. Their speed is often essential to the defense of the country, the suppression of crime, and the dearest interests of the people. Were they suppressed one day of the week, their absence must often be supplied by public expresses, and, besides, while the mail bags might rest, the mail coaches would pursue their journey with the passengers. The mail bears, from one extreme of the Union to the other, letters of relatives and friends, preserving a communion of heart between those far separated and increasing the most pure and refined pleasures of our existence; also, the letters of commercial men convey the state of markets, prevent ruinous speculations, and promote general as well as individual interest; they bear innumerable religious letters, newspapers, magazines, and tracts, which reach almost every house throughout this wide Republic. Is the conveyance of these a violation of the Sabbath?"
Source of information:
Religion & Constitutional Government In The United States, A Historical Overview with Sources, John E. Semonche. Signal Books, Carrboro, North Carolina (1985) pp 136-141