Petition and Memorial Work With Congress
VALUABLE results have been and still may be secured through the agency of the petition and memorial work with Congress and legislatures. The right to petition the government is recognized by America as inherent, and is safeguarded in the Constitution. It is part of the Bill of Rights found in the amendments, the first of which provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Sunday bills found their way into Congress through the petition work conducted by religious people who desired that body to pass laws compelling Sunday observance. The first petition on the subject was presented to the Eleventh Congress, Jan. 4, 1811, through Congressman Findley, in behalf of the synod of Pittsburg, Pa., praying that the post-offices be closed on Sunday. This, together with others, was referred to the Postmaster-General with a request for his recommendation; the result was a refusal of the legislation prayed for. Repeated attempts have been made since that time to commit Congress to the sanctity of Sunday, but without success. As a basis for adverse reports, the inexpediency of the legislation was appealed to; but eventually counter-petitions and memorials began to flow into the national lawmaking body, protesting that the question of religion and the union of church and state were certainly involved in legislation of this character. Examination of the records of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Congresses will show that memorials and petitions proved effective agencies in preventing the passage of Sunday laws. In a memorial presented in 1830, the Indiana Legislature said, among other things: “We view all attempts to introduce sectarian influence into the councils of the nation as a violation of both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution of the United States and of this State, and at the same time dangerous to our civil and religious liberties.” Jan. 21, 1831, the Illinois Legislature sent to Congress the following memorial, which is given in full because parallels in conditions are found in the present agitation for Sunday laws and religious amendments to the Constitution (italics ours):— “Whereas, A variety of sentiment exists among the good people of the United States on the subject of the expediency or inexpediency of stopping the transportation of the mail on the sabbath day; and inasmuch as Congress has been and is still being urged to pass an act restricting the carrying of the mails to six days in the week only, by petitions and memorials from various quarters of the Union; and inasmuch as it is believed that such an innovation upon our republican institutions would establish a precedent of dangerous tendency to our privileges as freemen, by involving a legislative decision in a religious controversy on a point in which good citizens may honestly differ; and whereas a free expression of sentiment by the present General Assembly on the subject may tend, in a great degree, to avert so alarming an evil as the union of church and state; therefore,— “Resolved, by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the able report made by Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, in the Senate of the United States, on the 19th of January, 1829, adverse to the stoppage of the transportation of the mails on the sabbath, or first day of the week, meets our decided approbation. “Resolved, That the governor be requested to transmit copies of the foregoing preamble and resolution to our senators and representatives in Congress, with the request that they use their exertions to prevent the passage of any bill which may, at any time, be introduced for such purpose.” In the same Congress there were communicated the results of several meetings held in different parts of the country petitioning against the Sunday-law measure proposed through the efforts of memorialists, one of which we refer to as fully as space will allow:— “At a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of Windham County, convened agreeably to previous notice, at the hall of E. Lincoln, in Wilmington, on the twelfth day of January, 1831, General Abner Perry, of Dover, was called to the chair, and Samuel P. Skinner appointed secretary. “On motion the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:— “Resolved, That we disapprove of the measures adopted by a certain party, styling themselves the Christian party in politics, which, under moral and religious pretenses, are officiously and unremittingly intermeddling with the religious opinions of others, and endeavoring to effect, by law, and other means equally exceptionable, a systematic course of measures, which, we believe, are tending to favor the dominancy of particular creeds, militating against the equal rights and liberties of all, infusing a spirit of religious intolerance and persecution into the political institutions of our country, and which, unless opposed, will result in a union of church and state, a change in the character of our government, and destruction of the civil and religious liberties of the people. “Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of this convention. “Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to draft a memorial to Congress against the petitions for a proposed restriction of the post-office regulations in relation to sabbath mails. . . . “On motion, it was unanimously voted to adjourn the convention to meet again on the 19th instant, at the hall of Anthony Jones, in Newfane, at 11 o'clock A. M., when and where the friends of civil and religious liberty in the county of Windham are respectfully invited to attend. “Voted, That the proceedings of this convention be signed by the chairman and secretary, and a copy thereof transmitted to the printer of the Brattleborough Messenger, and a request that he publish the same. “ABNER PERRY, Chairman;
“S. P. SKINNER, Secretary.” In the next number of the REVIEW the very excellent memorial which this convention adopted and communicated to the Twenty-first Congress will be printed. The petition work, of which the foregoing is but a sample, proved very effective in determining the decisions of earlier Congresses to report adversely on compulsory Sunday observance. The Sunday bills of that time had to do with the post-office department of the general government; and while the expediency of the proposed legislation was the subject of much consideration, it was not the most vital one. The principle of civil and religious liberty was recognized to be involved in the matter, and it was upon this point that the Congresses of earlier times decided. The Johnston District Sunday bill contains the same elements of danger as noted above, and if enacted into law, “would establish a precedent of dangerous tendency to our privileges as freemen, by involving a legislative decision in a religious controversy on a point in which good citizens may honestly differ.” The Senate District Committee has promised the Religious Liberty Department and others a hearing on the Johnston measure. In the meantime the petition work should and will receive the attention of our people in a practical way. This and other plans are being perfected for a nation-wide campaign.