Information about Fundamental Orders

The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony council on January 14 1638. OS (January 24 1639 NS)^[1][2] The orders describe the government set up by the Connecticut River towns, setting its structure and powers.

It has the features of a written constitution, and is largely considered the first written Constitution in Western history, and thus earned Connecticut its nickname of The Constitution State. The orders were transcribed into the official colony records by the colony's secretary Thomas Welles.

Origin

In 1637, the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor had started a collective government in order to fight the Pequot War. In the spring of 1638, Reverend Thomas Hooker challenged the General Court to set down and fix the principles of that government naked. It was his view that "the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people".

Each town had elected its magistrates and operated a court. Connecticut was very much a common law creature, in that court decisions were viewed as creating precedent, and were documented in Court Orders. The council in turn was called the General Court, and they viewed the Fundamental Orders as a more permanent document. Roger Ludlow of Windsor, who had studied law at Balliol College, Oxford, drafted the first document and worked in the General Court through discussion and revision.

The New Haven Colony was still a separate government, and they saw themselves as being in competition with the Connecticut River towns. They competed in trade, in efforts to attract new colonists and investment, and now in openness of government. They adopted their own, similar, Fundamental Orders on June 4, 1639.

Individual rights

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is a short document, but contains some principles that were later applied in creating the United States government. Government is based in the rights of an individual, and the orders spell out some of those rights, as well as how they are ensured by the government. It provides that all free men share in electing their magistrates, and uses secret, paper ballots. It states the powers of the government, and some limits within which that power is exercised.

In one sense, the Fundamental Orders were replaced by a Royal Charter in 1662, but the major outline of the charter was written in Connecticut and embodied the Orders' rights and mechanics. It was carried to England by Governor John Winthrop and basically approved by the British King, Charles II. The colonists generally viewed the charter as a continuation and surety for their Fundamental Orders.

Today, the individual rights in the Orders, with others added over the years, are still included as a Declaration of Rights in the first article of the current Connecticut Constitution, adopted in 1965.

See also

• Constitution
• Connecticut
• Hartford, Connecticut
• Wethersfield, Connecticut
• Windsor, Connecticut
• Thomas Hooker
• Thomas Welles

References

External links

• Full text of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (constitution.org)
• Original text of the Fundamental Orders Of Connecticut