Sunday Laws: The culture war between German Americans and Anglo Americans
The Sunday practices of Germans in the United States in the mid-1800s differed fundamentally from those of Anglo-Americans. Germans viewed Sunday as “a day of pleasure, recreation and enjoyment,” while Anglo Americans abstained from labor and public activities to honor the Sabbath through rest and religious exercise, according to historian Luke Ritter’s book, “Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis.”
Both the German and Anglo-American cultures had significant foundations on Sunday practices, and since their Sunday practices were essentially opposite, these groups developed animosity toward each other, both viewing the other as infringing upon their cultural practices.
Ritter quotes historian Steven Rowan to establish that the center of German-American culture was “beer and Sunday social activities,” while Anglo-Americans saw temperance on Sundays as a cornerstone of their faith.
This issue often saw public discourse, and the debate pops up in Missouri newspapers from the time period. The Daily Missouri Republican was a newspaper published in St. Louis from 1854–1869, and the Aug. 18, 1859, issue features a column titled “The Sunday Liquor Traffic” that synthesizes the issue on a national scale and ties it in to the local level.
The column takes a relatively objective look — newspapers at the time were often not objective, unlike journalism today — at the operation of bars and saloons on Sundays, stating facts such as the price of tickets, events that happen such as gambling, and the types of customers: typically youth. The article then introduces a long quote from the editor of a German periodical that argues against these types of events, which might seem uncharacteristic, considering that Germans were often seen as the type of people to support these saloons. That, however, is the point: This quote essentially argues that operating bars on Sundays makes Germans look bad in the public eye and perpetuates negative stereotypes against Germans.
“If any thing is a disgrace to our German name, our numberless German beer-houses are such,” the quote says.
Following this quote, the author argues that operating bars and saloons on Sundays damages the intent for the day to be a day of rest, tempting the “laboring man” into committing “debauchery.”
The author of the article seems to take the side that the German practice of drinking on Sundays is morally reprehensible, and it’s interesting that he includes a German voice arguing the same. Many people on the side of Sunday temperance seemed to establish Germans as villains, but including this quote in the article establishes that raucous Sunday behavior isn’t representative of all Germans — in fact, the quote argues, this behavior represents a small portion of German Americans.
