What was the purpose of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut?

Last Updated February 4, 2020

by Rebecca Furer for Teach It

Table of Contents Show

Did You Know?
Historical Facts
Brief Outline
Significance

Historical Background

The Fundamental Orders provided the framework for the government of Connecticut Colony—originally just the towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield—from 1639 to 1662. The document was inspired by Thomas Hooker’s sermon of May 31, 1638, and consisted of a preamble and 11 “orders” (or laws). The Fundamental Orders spelled out when general courts should be held, how the governor and magistrates should be chosen, and who could vote. Although Connecticut was an English colony at the time, the document does not make any reference to the authority of the crown—only to that of God.

The Fundamental Orders identified two types of voters—“admitted inhabitants” and “freemen.” Not everyone living in a town was an “admitted inhabitant.” Paupers, itinerants, or other undesirable newcomers could be “warned off” from a town or refused admission. Adult male “inhabitants” could vote for local officials at town meetings and could also elect deputies to attend the General Court in Hartford. “Freemen” were a more selective group. Only they could serve as deputies and vote for the governor and magistrates. While in New Haven Colony only church members could become freemen, in the Connecticut Colony any adult man of good character with a certain amount of property could be admitted as a freeman, if he was willing and able to travel to Hartford to take the Oath of Loyalty and be sworn in by the General Court. Although there was nothing in Connecticut law until 1814 that said you must be white to be a freeman, there is no evidence that there were freemen of African descent in Connecticut in the 1600s.

It is largely thanks to the Fundamental Orders—considered by some to be the first written constitution in western democratic tradition—that Connecticut is nicknamed the “Constitution State.”

From Federalism in America

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was the first written constitution in the American colonies. In 1639, the three towns that comprised the Connecticut colony, Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, formed a common government based on the federal principle. The form of government provided the basis for the expansion of the colony and eventually became the framework for Connecticut’s first state constitution, adopted in 1776 and lasting until 1818.

The Fundamental Orders is a constitution in the sense that it created a new people, laid out the political values of this people, established a new government, and defined its political institutions. The Fundamental Orders created a General Court that was composed of the three branches of government, a governor (the executive); twelve deputies—four from each town (the legislature); and six magistrates (the judiciary). The form was parliamentary in nature, empowering the deputies to elect the governor and the magistrates.

As noted, the Fundamental Orders embodied the federal principle. The towns maintained their own form of government and conducted elections for colonial deputies, who were initially apportioned on the basis of each town rather than by population. Thus, the towns (or constituent units) provided the basis for representation. The powers of the colonial government were specified in Article X (a precursor to the enumerated powers found in the U.S. Constitution). These powers included the ability to levy taxes, make laws for the common good, settle land disputes, and punish crimes. Article X also included a supremacy clause. Finally, the Orders provided for expansion, allowing new towns to be added to the compact.

Some other notable features of the Fundamental Orders include term limits for the governor, who was prohibited from serving two consecutive terms. More significantly, the government established was based on the principle of popular sovereignty, a concept not present in English common law, nor one that had yet been articulated in Liberal political theory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Perry Miller, Errand in the Wilderness (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956); and Stephen L. Schechter, Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted (Madison, WI: Madison House, 1990).

Joseph R. Marbach

Last updated: 2006

SEE ALSO: Articles of Confederation; State Constitutions; U.S. Constitution

History states that the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is referred to as the first ever written constitution in North America. Historyplex shares important facts about this historical event.

Did You Know?

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut modeled the Declaration of Independence.

Common people had no say in the working of the government. The leaders that rose to power during the historic year of 1638 were not elected by the people. The state still bore the shackles of monarchy. Under such circumstances, a very historic sermon took place in the meeting house in Hartford, Connecticut on May 31, 1638. Reverend Thomas Hooker stated that ”The foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of people.”

According to his Puritan beliefs, he believed that God granted common people the power to select their leader and create laws for a good governance. Inspired by the sermon, these ideas were put into practice through the Fundamental Orders on January 15, 1639 by the settlements at Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. It remained as a guideline for the laws of these colonies till 1662.

Given below are the salient features of this historic document.

Definition

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut: First written constitutional document of America was made to form a unified government for the colonies of the Connecticut area (Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield).

Historical Facts

➺ In the year 1614, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block arrived on the Connecticut coastline and established trade via the Connecticut River.

➺ In early 1631, the Earl of Warwick signed the Warwick Patent, establishing the deed of land rights in Southern Connecticut. English settlers established their colonies in the modern-day Hartford and New Haven. They thought the Dutch posed a threat to the trade dynamics as well as the natives. Hence, the then governor of the Saybrook colony, John Winthrop Jr. elected soldier and engineer, Lion Gardiner, to construct a fortified wall for the colonies.

➺ In 1633, William Holmes, of the Plymouth Colony, established the first English settlement which is now known as the town of Windsor.

➺ In 1634, Captain John Oldham established the town of Wethersfield. Subsequently, in the year 1636, Reverend Thomas Hooker, a prominent Puritan religious leader founded the colony of Hartford.

➺ In 1637, the colonies of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield declared war on the Pequot, a native American tribe, to take over trade and livestock.

➺ In 1638, the colony of New Haven is founded by few of the prominent Puritans. It is the first planned colony in America.

➺ On May 31, 1638, Reverend Thomas Hooker made a powerful speech that laid the basics for the establishment of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. He is also called “The Father of American democracy” because of his ideological thoughts on people having the right to choose their magistrates.

➺ On January 15, 1639, the colonies of Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor unified under the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.

Brief Outline

➺ It provided a governmental framework for the Connecticut colonies from 1639 to 1662. Roger Ludlow of Windsor, a lawyer, drafted the Fundamental Orders with the assistance of Hartford colonists John Haynes, who was the former Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Edward Hopkins, and John Steel.

➺ The first written constitutional document consisted of a preamble and 11 orders. The preamble bound the three towns to be governed in a civil manner. It was equivalent to the Puritan biblical beliefs and church covenant.

➺ It called for sessions of general courts every April and September and the appointment of a governor and six magistrates. The governor could preside over his post for a period of two years, and could not be elected as a governor again. John Haynes was elected as Connecticut’s first governor.

➺ The governor and the magistrates were to be elected by freemen at the Court of Election. All the power was vested with the General Court, and any references to the crown or religious text for voting purpose were abolished.

➺ The General Court was held as supreme authority to establish and repel laws, impose taxes, distribute land, arrest public defaulters. It rose as the sole legislative, executive, judicial, and administrative governing body.

➺ Due to these constitutional implements in the colonies, the General Assembly officially designated Connecticut as ‘The Constitution State’ in 1959.

Significance

Through the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, voting rights were exercised by non-church members for the first time, which limited the power of the government. All the laws were constitution-based, and it propagated the idea of a Representative Government.

The main focal point of the Fundamental Orders was the welfare of the community as a whole. It paved the way for a rational beginning to the Fundamental Rights of the people.