Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Timeline

1. 1638Hartford · HartfordAfter Thomas Hooker led his followers south from Massachusetts in 1636, the three towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield cooperated long under temporary magistrates after the Massachusetts March Commission expired, lacking a formal constitutional document. After the Pequot War, land and defense required unified authority. On May 31, 1638, Hooker preached that 'the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people', preserved in Henry Wolcott's notes. Roger Ludlow, the only legally trained man in Windsor, very likely drafted the text, with John Haynes, Edward Hopkins and others participating.
2. 1639Hartford · HartfordMagistrates and town commissioners voted in Hartford to adopt the preamble and eleven orders. The text declared the three towns a commonwealth, established annual election and legislative courts, provided that the governor be chosen by freemen by paper ballot and not serve again within a year, that each town send representatives, and that the assembly hold supreme civil power. The document made no mention of the English king or any external sovereign, appealing directly to God and the union of the people. Secretary Thomas Wells transcribed the text.
3. 1639Hartford · HartfordIn 1639 the colony held elections under the new orders; John Haynes became governor, and elected magistrates and town representatives governed together. Unlike Massachusetts Bay, which strictly limited participation to church members, the Fundamental Orders admitted more sworn residents to voting, making Connecticut a representative of institutional divergence within New England. The framework lasted until the 1662 royal charter and was later called by American constitutional narratives one of the 'first written constitutions'.