USA > Connecticut > A history of Connecticut, its people and institutions, pt 1 > Part 6
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The place of meeting in New Haven for the legislature was the meeting-house; in 1717, the first county house was built on the northwest of the Green, to accommo- date the General Court and also the Superior and County Courts. In 1763, a state-house of brick was built be- tween Center and Trinity churches; in 1827, the imposing structure west of the Center Church, modeled after the Parthenon, was erected, and was in use until 1875, after which Hartford became the sole place of meeting of the General Assembly. The salary of the early governors was modest, since on November 9, 1641, it was ordered "that one hundred and sixty bushels of Corne shall be sent in by the County to the Governor, to be levied upon the towns by the proportion of the last vote." Four years later the salary was thirty pounds in "wheat, pease and corne."
We do not know when the settlers of the three towns discovered that they were not within the limits of Massa- chusetts, but on January 14, 1639, the fathers of the colony
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Yale College at the Left and State House near the Middle, Center Church at the Right, New Haven. Early in the Nineteenth Century
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met at Hartford, either in a popular gathering as Trumbull says, or through the Court, which is more probable, and drew up a form of government for the colony, a system similar to that of Massachusetts, except that it came into shape at one time, instead of through a course of years. The "Orders" have been called a "Constitution," but they were more like statute law, for they contained no provision for amendment, and when amended later, it was through the ordinary process of legislative action. It was really a plantation covenant with the addition of eleven legislative statutes.
The seed of the Connecticut government was in a sermon preached by Hooker, May 31, 1638, of which Henry Wolcott, Jr., of Windsor took notes, and from those notes we learn that the Hartford minister laid down the doctrine: I. That the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God's own allowance. II. The privilege of election must be exercised according to the blessed will and law of God. III. Those who have power to appoint officers and magis- trates have also power to set the bounds and limitations of the power and place unto which they call them. The rea- sons are as follows: I. Because the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people. 2. Because by a free choice the people will be more ready to yield obedience. 3. Because of the duty and engagement of the people.
The lesson taught is threefold. I. Thankfulness to God for his faithfulness in permitting these measures. 2. Of reproof-to dash the counsels of opposers. 3. Of exhorta- tion-to persuade us, as God hath given us liberty, to take it. 4. Lastly, as God hath spared our lives, and given us them in liberty, so to seek the guidance of God, and to choose in God and for God. There is no reference in the sermon to the king of England, no sign of deference to any class, every one exercising his rights "according to the blessed will and law of God," and to hold himself responsible to God alone.
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Seven months after Hooker's sermon, the leaders of the three plantations met in Hartford, on January 14, 1639, and put into form Hooker's teachings for the orderly govern- ment of the settlements on the river, "the first example in history of a written constitution, a distinct organic law con- stituting a government and defining its powers." The three settlements regarded themselves as one people, one sovereignty, and, as all the writers agree, the Fundamental Orders were adopted at a mass-meeting of all the people. It is significant that the framers of this constitution-Hooker with his passion for democracy, Haynes with his liberal spirit, and Ludlow with his profound legal knowledge and insight-arranged that the sovereign rights of the people be given up and vested in the General Court, declaring that since the inhabitants of the three settlements are dwelling together on the Connecticut, and the Bible requires peace and union, therefore,
we do associate and conjoin ourselves to be one public STATE or COMMONWEALTHI; and do, for ourselves and our successors, and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into combination and confederation together to maintain and preserve the purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such laws, rules, orders and decrees, as shall be made, ordered and decreed, as followeth:
first, the state consists of towns, each town regulating, to a certain extent, its own affairs as a pure democracy; secondly, elections in the state are annual, all powers going back to the people once in every year; thirdly, legislation is by the representatives of towns, acting coordinately with another body of men chosen by the people at large; fourthly, the judicial and executive powers are distinguished from the legislative, though committed to men having a share in legislation. Later, a distinction was made between the judiciary and the other branches, but this was not required
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in the infancy of the government, when it was natural and safe to identify judiciary and executive. The following are the provisions of the Fundamental Orders of 1639:
I. The right of suffrage was broad. Neither the pos- session of real estate, nor the payment of a tax, nor the performance of military duty, was placed among the qualifi- cations of a voter. The choice of magistrates was to be "made by all that are admitted freemen, and have taken the oath of fidelity," living within the jurisdiction, "and admitted inhabitants by the major part of the town, or by the major part of such as shall be then present." It was not universal suffrage, but near it.
2. The executive and judicial power was vested in a governor, and at least six assistant magistrates; to be elected on the second Tuesday in April, annually. No person could be elected governor who was not "a member of some ap- proved congregation," or who had not formerly been a magistrate within the jurisdiction, nor could any person be governor oftener than once in two years. The only qualification for the magistracy was that the persons chosen should be "freemen of this commonwealth."
3. Elections were held in a general assembly of all the freemen of the colony. Magistrates were chosen thus: At a preceding General Court, within the year, the names of those who were to stand as candidates for the magistracy at the ensuing election were propounded to the people for consideration. This was done, not by a caucus, or a party convention, but every town had the power of nominating, by its deputies, any two names, and the General Court could add to the nomination at its own discretion. On election day the secretary read the names of all who were to be voted for; after that, every name was voted upon by ballot, a paper with any writing on it being an affirmative vote, and a blank paper negative. Every person was voted for in turn. If at the close, six, in addition to the governor, had not received majorities, six should be made
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up by taking the one or more for whom the greatest number of votes had been cast.
4. The legislature consisted of the governor and his assistants in the magistracy, together with the representa- tives of the towns. Each of the three towns included in the jurisdiction was empowered to send four of its deputies to the General Court; and the towns that should afterwards be added were to send as many deputies as the Court should judge meet in view of the number of freemen in the new towns. Though the deputies did not sit in a different room for the transaction of ordinary business, it was provided that they should meet by themselves before the opening of any General Court, to judge of their elections, and "to advise and consult of all such things as concern the public good."
5. Another feature of this constitution is its implied renunciation of the laws of England, the common law as well as the statute law. The magistrates were empowered "to administer justice according to the laws here established, and for want thereof according to the word of God." This was a prophecy of the Declaration of Independence. It has been easy to ridicule this provision, but, since the colonists had cut loose from the mother-country, with its royal government, prelacy, and liturgy, and had gone beyond the reach of laws which had been trying, the freemen determined that not even common law should burden them without express enactment, and to prevent the necessity of falling back on the common law in cases where no express statute had been enacted, the magistrates were to administer justice according to the principles of equity laid down in a book of universal authority-the Bible.
6. The religious cast of this constitution, its connection with the religious opinions and institutions of those who framed it, appears in the preamble, which asserts that the end of the commonwealth is "to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also the discipline of the churches, which,
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according to the truth of the Gospel, is now practiced among us." More explicit is the provision, which requires that the governor be "a member of some approved congregation within the jurisdiction." In Massachusetts and New Haven, only church members could have political power, and the breadth and freedom of the "Orders" of Connecticut were due to men like Thomas Hooker, John Haynes, and Roger Ludlow.
It remains to notice the provision by which this primitive constitution would secure its own perpetuity, and keep the supreme power inalienably in the hands of the people. In all ordinary cases, the General Court, of which there were to be two sessions annually, was to be convened by the governor, sending out a summons to the constables of every town, upon which they were to call upon the inhabitants to elect their representatives. The governor was also em- powered to convoke a special session of the Court on any emergency, with the consent of a majority of the magistrates. But if, through the neglect or refusal of the governor and magistrates, the General Court should not be convoked, either at the stated time of meeting, or at other times when required by "the occasions of the commonwealth," then the freemen, or a major part of them, might call on the magistracy by petition to perform its duty; and if that petition should be ineffectual, then the freemen, or the major part of them, might give order to the several towns, which order should have the same validity as if it proceeded from the governor. And the Court thus convened, without a governor and without magistrates, should consist of the major part of the freemen present or their deputies, with a moderator chosen by them; and the General Court so constituted should have "the supreme power of the commonwealth," including, among other things, "power to call in question courts, magistrates, or any other person whatsoever, and for just causes to displace them, or deal otherwise according to the nature of the offence." Thus
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if magistrates should destroy the government, or interfere with the rights of the freemen, full provision was made for reorganization, whenever the people should choose.
In August or September, 1639, the Court appointed a committee to complete the town organization, and this was finished in October, and a schedule of powers delegated to the towns was adopted at that time, securing to the people of the towns power to sell lands, choose officers, pass local laws, assess, tax, and distrain, hold local courts for minor offenses, to record titles, bonds, sales, and mortgages, and to manage the probate business in the several towns. The relation of the towns to the General Court was clearly de- clared by the Supreme Court in 1864, when the chief justice announced the judgment of the Court as follows:
That extraordinary instrument [the constitution of 1639] pur- ports on its face to be the work of the people-the residents and inhabitants of the three towns. It recognizes the towns as existing municipalities, but not as corporate or independent, and makes no reservation expressly or impliedly in their favor.
The towns never failed to recognize the fact that power ran from the commonwealth downward, and there is no instance of their passing the bounds of the Court orders. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, Hartford said, "If the General Court see cause to overrule in this case, we must submit." At first the legislature recommended to the towns, and later it did not hesitate to order.
To the question, "Did the deputies represent the towns as equal entities, or the body of the freemen as a whole?" it must be said that in theory the freemen and inhabitants were separated only by an oath of allegiance, which the electors of magistrates and deputies were required to take, but in practice not one half of the men availed themselves of the privilege. It was ordered that the three original towns should have four deputies each, and that when other towns were formed, they were to have as many deputies as
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the Court should judge meet-a reasonable proportion to the number of inhabitants, indicating that the General Court proposed to keep in its own hands the number of deputies, and that the towns were not to have necessarily an equal number. Thus the deputies, who came to form a lower house in 1698, were considered the representatives of the freemen of the colony, and no town except the first three has ever sent more than two, and since the time when the charter was read before the legislature, even the three river towns have had but two deputies.
We come now to a consideration of citizenship in Con- necticut towns, and the official system that prevailed. As is well known, the early settlers could not agree to the method which prevailed in Massachusetts of restricting freemanship to church members. It was a radical and far-reaching principle that was stated in the first section of the Orders of 1639, that choice of the governor and magistrates "shall be made by all that are admitted freemen and have taken the oath of Fidelity and do cohabit within this jurisdiction (having been admitted Inhabitants by the major part of the Towne wherein they live or the major parte of such as shall be present)." This laid upon the different towns the power to regulate the admission of citizens.
We are to bear in mind the close union of church and state, that while in theory they were separate in those first sixty years, in practice they were interwoven, though not in the strict way that prevailed in Massachusetts and New Haven. It was the opinion of the colony that "loathesome Heretickes, whether Quakers, Ranters, Adamites or some other like them," had no place in Connecticut, though it was not until 1656, that the General Court, following the recommendations of the commissioners of the United Colo- nies, passed an order forbidding the towns to entertain such people. But no one became a permanent resident of a town until he was admitted as inhabitant, and transients found scanty hospitality. To say that the suffrage in Connecticut
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was universal up to 1657, would be nearly correct, for free- manship was conferred upon all above sixteen in a town and upon others who brought certificates of good behavior from other towns; the oath being administered in both instances. This is the more significant from the fact that in Massa- chusetts only freemen (chosen by the General Court) could "have any vote in any town in any action of authority or necessity, or that which belongs to them by virtue of their freedom," which means, as we have noticed, that only about one-sixth of the inhabitants there were allowed any voice in the business of a town, though all were taxed.
In 1657, there came a change in the passage of the law, which defined inhabitants who were mentioned in the seventh Fundamental of 1639, as householders that are one and twenty years old, and have borne office or have thirty pounds estate. This was a large sum when ratable estate averaged about sixty pounds for every inhabitant. But why was it that suffrage was restricted in 1657? The colony was losing faith in the people as the first generation passed away, and more questionable immigrants were coming in, and in 1659, it was voted in Hartford that no one was to be admitted as an inhabitant "without it be first consented to by the orderly vote of the inhabitants."
With the narrowing of the elective franchise, the right of voting for colonial officers was taken from a number of inhabitants, though the towns clung to their democratic principles longer than the colony, and paid little attention to the order of the Assembly of 1679, which declared that no one except an admitted inhabitant, a householder, and a man of sober conversation, who had at least fifty shillings freehold estate, could vote for town or county officers or for grants of rates or lands.
The growth of the official system in the towns was after this fashion. We have seen that the first officer was the constable, and the first mention of town officers is January I, 1638, when Hartford chose four townsmen, and defined
ยท
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their duties, which were soon widened to cover powers as a court for petty cases (for which a separate body might be chosen), supervision of estates of deceased persons, taking inventories of wills and similar duties. About the same time Hartford, following out the order of the Court, elected two constables, and in December, 1639, gave the towns- men liberty to appoint two men to "attend them in such things as they appoint about the town affairs and be paid at a publique charge." These men were to view the fences about the common fields when requested by the townsmen, and to receive threepence an hour, and fourpence if obliged to spend time repairing. This was to be paid by the owner of the broken palings. They were to survey the common fields, and if any stray cattle or swine were found, they were to do "their best to bring them to the pound," for which they were to receive extra pay for every animal impounded. They were also to "warn people to publick employment or to gather some particular rates or the like," for which they were to receive threepence an hour. We have here the germs of the fence-viewer, hayward or bound- viewer, the public warner, and the rate-collector. Highway surveyors had been appointed just before this, whose duty it was to supervise the roads. In 1640, the town officers of Hartford were two constables, four townsmen or select- men, two surveyors, and a committee of two to attend to a number of things. Of these the constables and townsmen were elected annually; the surveyors were a committee. appointed for an indefinite period, and the two others were chosen as a temporary expedient. As highways were called for more and more, surveyors became regular officers, and in 1643, chimney-viewers were elected, as the town had already established the requirement that every house should have its ladder or tree for use in case of fire. In some of the towns the townsmen had charge of the fences, highways, animals, and rates, but gradually various officers were ap- pointed to meet the increasing needs, and in nearly all cases,
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save that of townsmen, town officers were the result of an order of the Court to that effect.
Special officers were needed to regulate the finances. There were at first three rates and afterward a fourth. , The first was that paid to the colony ; then there was the town rate, and it was paid according to the estate of each inhabitant; there was also the minister's rate, and afterwards there was the school rate. The lister made up the list of the estates, and his associates made up the rate; the collector or bailiff was the officer to whom the inhabitants brought wheat, peas, and Indian corn; the inspector, who was to see that no one's estate was left out of the list, was a short-lived officer. There soon came into existence a large number of other officers, such as packer of meat, brander of horses, sealer of leather, examiner of yarn, sealer of weights and measures, the standards of which were procured from England, public whippers, cattle-herders, sheep-masters, tithing-men, ordi- nary-keepers, ensign of the train-band, town criers, town warners, and town clerk.
The most important set of officers in the town was the townsmen-the executive board of which appeared on the records of Hartford, January 1, 1639. At a meeting of that board, two weeks before the Constitution was adopted, it was ordered that the townsmen, for the time being, should have the power of the whole to order the common occasions of the town, with certain limitations; they could not receive new inhabitants without vote of the whole; could make no levies on the town except concerning the herding of cattle; could grant no lands save in small parcels to a needy in- habitant; could not alter any highway already settled and laid out; in the calling out of persons and cattle for labor they must guarantee in the name of the whole the safe return of cattle and a reasonable wage for the men, and should not raise wages above sixpence a day. They were required to meet once a fortnight, under penalty of two shillings six- pence for every offense. The number of townsmen differed
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in the several towns: in New Haven the number was ten, and later seven; Hartford regularly had four; Wethersfield, in seventy years, had at different times five, four, and three; Windsor had seven and then five. Their business, according to the records, was "to agetat and order the townse occasions for the present year." Since town affairs included church affairs, the townsmen had on their hands the care of the meeting-house, superintending those who were chosen by the town to clapboard, underdaub, sweep, and dress it, and also the construction of porch, seats, and pulpit. Through the townsmen the expenses of the town were met, such as paying the herders, watch, drum-beaters, building and repair of bridges, setting the town mill, surveying lands, repairing the minister's house, payment of minister's salary, occa- sionally supporting poor persons, repair of town property, as ferry, town stocks, payment of bounties for wolves and blackbirds, payment of town officers, and such extra ex- penses as "liquor for boundgoers." There was no law that required the townsmen to make an annual statement of receipts and expenditures, and they sometimes failed to square accounts and hand over the surplus to their successors.
The townsmen gradually changed into the selectmen. This name does not appear in Hartford and Windsor until 1691, and for twenty-five years after that there was a com- mingling of the terms. The title selectmen might be used in recording the election, but the old name of townsmen was. often used in the further accounts. After 1725, selectmen was the generally accepted term.
The constable was the right arm of the law, and a very important officer, and since the river towns were of a military character, the earliest act of the provisional government was directed against a laxity of military discipline, and the next forbade the sale of arms, powder and shot to the Indians, following which is the appointment of constables as military officers. Then the constable was to patrol a town to guard
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against Indian attacks, and also to view the ammunition, which every inhabitant was ordered to have in readiness; soon also every town was to be put into military condition by monthly trainings under the constable, with more fre- quent meetings for the "unskilful." The constable was to examine the arms to see "whether they be serviceable or noe," a duty which was afterward given to the clerk of the train-band. After the war was over the inhabitants were ordered to carry to the constable "any armor, swords, belts, Bandilers, kittles, pottes, tooles, or anything else that be- longs to the commonwealth," and he was to return them to the next Court.
After Captain John Mason was appointed general train- ing officer, the constable became a purely civil officer with many police duties. The town meetings were held at first monthly, but later they were held less frequently in the summer, and the autumn and winter meetings were of the greatest importance, for then the officers were elected, rates proclaimed, and laws read. The town meeting was usually called together by the beating of the drum or blowing of the trumpet from the top of the meeting-house, as is sug- gested by a Windsor record, "determined that provision should be made from the top of the meeting-house, from the Lanthorn to the ridge of the house, to walk conveniently to sound a trumpet or drum to give warning to the meetings." There were also warners in Wethersfield who went from house to house, to give notice to the inhabitants. The time of meeting was nine in the morning, and at first fines were imposed for absence. Officers were generally chosen by ballot, though at times, for "dispatch of business," show of hands was employed.
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