EXTRACTS FROM THE CONNECTICUT BLUE LAWS.
When these free states were colonies
Unto the mother nation,
And in Connecticut the good
Old Blue Laws were in fashion.
The following extracts from the laws ordained by the people of New Haven, previous to their incorporation with the Saybrook and Hartford colonies, afford an idea of the strange character of their prohibitions. As the substance only is given in the transcription, the language is necessarily modernized:—
No quaker or dissenter from the established worship of the dominion shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of magistrates, or any officer.
No food or lodging shall be afforded to a quaker, adamite, or other heretic.
If any person turns quaker, he shall be banished, and not suffered to return, but upon pain of death.
No priest shall abide in the dominion: he shall be banished, and suffer death on his return. Priests may be seized by any one without a warrant.