Princeton in 1802 Crushed Under "College of New Jersey" Blue Laws--Female Apparel and "Riding Beasts" Barred

Among the Princeton books and manuscripts now on exhibition in the Widener Library Treasure Room is a copy of the "Laws of the College of New Jersey" for 1802. It is apparent from a study of this rule-book that the authorities of Old Nassau trusted their charges not without reservations.

"Spirituous iluids, literature of irreligious content, and riding beasts," were among the luxuries denied the early Princetonians. Regulation Number Two of Chapter 15, however, seems to be a prohibition of unnecessary stringency;

"No student shall be allowed to disguise himself by wearing women's apparel" reads the mandate. Why this innocent pleasure should be barred to an undergraduate is difficult to understand.

Regulation Number Eight is the most comprehensive command:

"No student shall keep for his use or pleasure any horse or riding beast; nor shall any students keep a dog, or a gun, or fire-arms and ammunition of any kind."

Regulation Number Five introduces a sinister note:

"If any clubs or combinations of the students take place, either for resisting the authorities of the college, or for executing any evil or disorderly design every student concerned in such combination shall be considered guilty of the offence which was intended, and the faculty are empowered to inflict a severer punishment on each individual than if the offence had been committed in his individual capacity."

A case of a club resisting the college did not occur while Princeton was in its infancy probably because of Regulation Number Ten. This reads, "No student shall go to a tavern, beer house or any place of such kind for the purpose of entertainment or amusement without permission from some college officer."