USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the Colony of New Haven, Before and After the Union with Connecticut: Containing a. > Part 3
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V. Besides the Plantation Courts ande the Court of Magistrates there shall be a Generall Court for the Jurisdiction, which shall consist of the Governour, Deputy Governour and all the magistrates within the Jurisdiction, and two Deputies for every plantation in the Jurisdiction to be chosen previously-This Court shall sit at New Haven twice every year, viz. on the first Wednesday in April and the last Wednesday in October, at the last of which the officers for the ensuing year shall be chosen. The Governour or in his absence the Deputy-Governour shall have power to summon a Generall Court at any other time, and no one belonging to the court shall be absent on penalty of 20s. fine.
VI. The Court shall with all care & dilligence provide for the maintainance of the purity of Religion and surpress the contrary ; according to their best light from the Word of God, and by the advice of the Elders and churches in the Jurisdiction so farr as it might concern the civill power-2d. This court shall have power to make & repeal laws & to require their execution while in force in all the severall Plantations-3rd. to impose an oath upon all the Magistrates to call them to account for breach of Lawes & to cen- sure them according to offence-to settle ande levie rates and con- tribution of the Plantations for the public services and to heare ande determine causes whether Civill or Criminall-they to pro- ceed according to the scriptures which is the rule of all righteous Lawes ande sentences. Nothing shall pass as an act without the consent of the majority of the Magistrates, ande of the majority of the Deputies. In the Generall Court shall be and reside the su- preme power of the Jurisdiction.
At this court was laid the first tax which was paid to the jurisdiction.
It was Ordered that Guilforde pay five pounds, Stamforde five pounds, Milforde ten pounds (to equal Guilforde ande Stamforde,
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which have already been ascessed five pounds) into the treasury in New Haven towards defraying the expense of six soldiers sent on from Hartford for Uncas' defense against the assaults of the Narragansetts for the death of Miantonimoes, And that all charges thereafter shall be borne by the planters according to the number of men from sixteen to sixty years of age.
It was their plan that each town should govern themselves independently, as far as local interests were concerned, and as far as the public interests or common wealth was interested, to organize an authoritative governmental and judicial council, to which all should submit and be in subordination.
It is seen by their articles for government, that they insti- tuted three sorts of courts ; the Plantation Court, (of which something like existed before the confederation,) and was similar in its powers to our justice courts, the Court of Ma- gistrates, which corresponds to our superior courts, and the General Court, which was like our legislature.
The plantation, or particular courts, as sometimes called, were constituted by each town choosing four deputies annu- ally, who were reported to the general court, or assembly, who approved, empowered, and established them : so that they became, within the town districts, judiciary officers of the law, vested with civil authority and legal jurisdiction. These judges were denominated commissioners, and, in con- junction with the magistrates of the town, composed the court. Before it was tried all local civil suits and lower felonies. From this appeals could be made to the court of assistants at New Haven. This court sat quarterly, and oftener if occa. sion required. The magistrates and commissioners were empowered to join in marriage, to execute deeds, and to watch over the town, for the preservation of order and the good of the community.
The court of magistrates was the supreme judiciary held at New Haven, to which the whole colony was amenable, and consisted of the governor, deputy-governor, and all the magis- trates. The governor was chief judge. This court had the cognizance and trial of all causes, civil and criminal, and was bound to proceed and decide according to strict law and jus- tice, and agreeable to the principles and spirit of the laws of England. With this court was the probate of wills and set- tlement of intestate estates. From its decisions appeal could be made to the general court, as the last resort. It adminis- tered justice with much firmness, impartiality, and dignity. 3
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The general court consisted and was constituted of two branches, both elective, in different modes, by the people. One branch was composed of the representatives or deputies of the towns, elected twice a year by each town respectively : the other of magistrates, consisting of a governor, deputy- governor, and assistants, or magistrates from each town of the jurisdiction, elected annually by the general voice of the people. The concurrence of these two branches made a public act or law. The supreme administration, both civil and military, was with the governor and deputy-governor; the judiciary, with the governor and magistrates. Both branches of the court, magistrates, and deputies, sat in the same room. The manner of election was thus : in April, preceding the election and session of the court in May, the towns elected two deputies each, and nominated persons for their magistrates, which nomination was sent by the governor to all the towns, which towns, on the day of election, were limited and confined to make their choice of magistrates from this nomination. The election at first was in October, but in 1653 it had been changed to the third week in May. The day of election was one of much importance in those times, on which most of the freemen of the jurisdiction generally appeared at New Haven. On this occasion one of the min- isters preached a sermon, which custom was not discontinued till 1826. The governor and deputy-governor were first cho. sen, then the magistrates for each town, (out of the nomina- tion,) not as representatives for that town only, for they dif- fered from the deputies, standing till another election, and were charged with the general interests of all the towns of the jurisdiction. At the same time they chose a secretary, treasurer, and marshal, out of the previous nomination of the towns for general officers. The choice being thus finished, on election day the general officers and town deputies formed themselves into an organized assembly, or general court, for the jurisdiction. Their system of jurisprudence was truly a singular simplification of law, a complete emancipation of it from the confusion, embarrassment, and contradictory decis- ions of European codes.
In 1643, the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Con- necticut, and New Haven, united into a confederacy, for their own mutual safety and welfare, and called themselves " The United Colonies of New England." The plan had been proposed a number of years, but difficulties occurred
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which retarded the union till that year, when on then 19th of May, the articles were completed and signed at Boston. Each colony was authorized to send two commissioners to meet annually in September, first at Boston, then at Hartford, New Haven, and Plymouth. The commissioners were vested with plenary powers for making war and peace, and rules of general concern, especially to regulate the conduct of the inhabitants towards the Indians, for the general defense of the country, and for the support and encouragement of religion. This union was of much importance to the New England colonies. It made them formidable to the Dutch and Indians, respectable in the view of the French, and was one of the the principal means of their preservation during the unsettled state and civil wars of the mother country. The proportion of men each colony was to furnish in case of war, was, Massachusetts 100; Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, 45 each.
About this time the Indians were troublesome, and it was suspected there was a general combination of them to extir- pate the English. They appeared to be making active prepa- rations for war. It is supposed that Miantinomah, a Narra- ganset sachem, though in alliance with the English, was engaged in the conspiracy. He assaulted Uncas, but being taken, was beheaded by him near Norwich. It is said the Mohawks were within a day's journey at the time of his cap- ture. The colonies, for their common safety, were obliged to keep constant watch. Some idea may be had of the hard- ships which the colonists experienced, and of the dangers to which they were exposed, by the following extracts from New Haven records :
At a generall court, Aprill 3d, 1644-It is ordered that every male from 16 to 60 yeares olde within this jurisdiction be furnished forth- with with a good gun, a sword, a pound of good powder, four fathom of match for a match lock, 5 or 6 good flints for a fyre lock, and four pounds of pistol bullets or 24 bullets fitted for every gun, and soe continue furnished from time to time, under the penalty of 10s. for every person found faulty or defective.
It is ordered that there shall be six training days in a yeare, but only one of them in the same month, except in times of danger, and there shall be a review once in a quarter.
· It is ordered that each plantation shall keep on hand 100 pounds of good powder and 400 pounds of shott.
It is ordered that each plantation shall keep their great guns loaded ande ready for use.
It is ordered that the fourth part of the trayned band in every plantation shall come to the public worship of Gon at the beating of
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the second drum at the farthrest, with their arms compleat, their guns ready charged, with their match for their match locks, ande Hints ready fitted in their fyre locks, and shott and powder for at least 5 or 6 charges besides the charge in their gun, under the pen- alty of 2 shillings fine for neglect or defect of furniture, and one shilling for late coming, ande allsoe the sentinels or they who walk the rounds, shall have their matches lighted during the time of the meeting, if they be match lockes.
It is ordered for the setting of the watch, that the drum is to beat at the going down of the sun, and the watchmen to be there within an hour after the setting of the sun, with arms and gun compleat, with 5 or 6 charges of powder and shott, besides the one which shall be in the gun. If they come late they shall pay a fine of one shilling, if absent 5 shillings, which shall go into the treasury of the Plantation. The watch shall continue till half an hour after day- light, and they who walk the last round shall call the drummer a hour before daye. The night shall be divided into three watches, and no one shall sleep within his watch. In case of danger, the watch shall fyre two guns for alarme, the sentinell shall fyre one gun, ande cause the drum to beat. If the danger be from fyre, they shall cry, Fyre! fyre ! if from the Indians, Arme! arme! upon which all the soldiers shall repair to the meeting house.
As New Haven had not yet any code of laws, the follow- ing act was passed by the general court, in April, 1644, for the government of the jurisdiction :
It is ordered that the Judicial Lawes of God as they were deliv- ered by Moses, ande as they are a fence to the Morall Lawe, being neither typicall nor ceremoniall, nor had any reference to Canaan, shall be accounted of Moral equity, ande generally binde all offen- ders, ande be a rule to all the courts in this Jurisdiction in their proceedings against offenders till they be branched out into particu- lars hereafter.
Thus it appears that the only code recognized in the juris- diction at this time, was the Mosaic law, which very well coincided with their notion that all government should be in the church, inasmuch as " the saints should rule the earth."
At this session of the general court, the forms of govern- or's and freemen's oaths were made as follows, extracted from New Haven town record, lib. i. page 4 :
Governour's Oathe .- Whereas you T. E. are chosen to the place of Governour within this Jurisdiction for the yeare ensuing, ande till a new Governour bee chosen and sworn, you doe hear swear by the great and dreadful name of the Ever Living God, to maintain (according to your best ability) all the lawfull priviledges of this commonwealth according to the fundamental order ande agreement made for the government thereof, and that you will carry and de- mean yourself for the said time of your government according to the Lawes of God, and for the advancement of his Gospell, the
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Lawes of the Colony, and the good of the Inhabitants thereof. Yon shall doe Justice to all without partiality, as much as in you lyeth. So help you God.
Freeman's Charge .- You shall neither plott, practice, nor consent to any Evill or hurt agaynst this Jurisdiction, or any parte of it, or against the civill government here Established. And if you shall know any person or persons which intend plott or conspire any thing which tends to the hurte or prejudice of the same, you shall timely discover the same to Lawfull Authority here Established, and you shall assist and be helpful in all the Affayres of the Juris- diction, ande by all means shall promote the Publique wellfare of the same according to your place, ability, and opportunity. You shall give due honour to the Lawfull Magistrate, and shall be obedient ande subject to all the wholesome Lawes ande Decrees allready made or which shall bee hereafter made by Lawfull Authority aforesaid, and that both in your person and estate. And when you shall be duly called to give your vote or suffrage in any Election, or concerning any other matter which concerneth the Common Wealth, you shall give it as in your conscience you shall judge may conduce to the best good of the same.
In the year 1644, Branford was first settled in combina- tion with New Haven, by people from Wethersfield. Mr. Abraham Pierson was chosen pastor. In 1645, New Haven appointed Thomas Gregson, Esq., and Connecticut, George Fenwick, agents to parliament to procure patents for their respective governments. Mr. Gregson was lost at sea ; Fenwick failed to go, and the business rested till after the restoration in England. About 1650, the general election was changed from October to May. Such were the injuries which had been sustained from the Dutch, at New Nether- lands, (now New York,) and their plotting and inciting the Indians against the English, that 1653 was a year of great distress and alarm. New Haven government provided a frigate of twelve guns, with 40 men, and sent in defense of Stamford and Greenwich against the Dutch, and by cruising up and down the Sound to prevent Ninigrate, a Niantic chief, from crossing to Long Island, in prosecution of his hostile designs against the Indians, in alliance with the English. In that year, Capt. Astwood, of Milford, was sent by the gov- ernment to England, to solicit aid of Cromwell for the reduc- tion of the Dutch, as the general court of Massachusetts re- fused to assist. The following year orders came to treat the Dutch as declared enemies, but news of peace between Eng- land and Holland reached America before much was ef- fected.
During these troubles, in 1654, one Capt. Manning, of a . 3*
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ten gun ship, was apprehended for an unlawful trade at Man. hadoes. While the affair was upon trial by the court at New Haven, his men ran off with the ship from Milford harbor. Alexander Bryan armed and sent a vessel after her, and pressed so hard before she reached Dutch Island, that the men took to their boats and escaped. The ship left adrift was brought into Milford harbor and condemned as a prize.
The plantations, by experience, finding Jewish bondage rather irksome, or that the laws of Moses were not entirely applicable to their condition, the general court, in May, 1655, desired Governor Eaton to perfect a code of laws for the jurisdiction .* For his assistance in the compilation, he was requested to consult the Rev. Mr. Cotton's Discourse on Civil Government in a new plantation, and the Massachusetts code. Having finished the work, assisted by Mr. Davenport, and the laws having been examined and approved by the elders of the jurisdiction, they were presented to the general court. They ordered that 500 copies should be printed. The man- uscript was sent to England, that it might be printed under the inspection of Gov. Hopkins. Concerning this subject is the following, on the New Haven records :
A Court, June 25, 1656. The governour informed the court that there is sent over now in Mr. Garreth's ship, five hundred Lawe bookes, which Governour Hopkins hath gotten printed, and six paper bookes for Records for the Jurisdiction, with a seale for the colony, which he desireth to accept as a token of his Love. The Lawe bookes cost, printing and paper, ten pounds and ten shillings, and the six paper bookes forty eight shillings. The Lawe bookes are now ordered to be divided as followeth : New Haven, 200; Mil- ford, 80; Stamford, 70; Guilford, 60; Branford, 40; Southhold, 50; for every one of which bookes each Plantation is to pay twelve pence in good country payment. (Wheate and pease was pro- pounded by the Governour.) Mr. Hopkins having ordered him to receive it heare upon his own account, and therefore must be made up in quantity, else he would be a greate looser by it.
There is a copy of these laws preserved in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, Mass. It was transcribed by the librarian, Mr. Baldwin, and the man- uscript copy presented to the legislature of this state, at its session in May, 1835. These are probably the only copies 'of the laws in being. It is a curious work and should be
* Many laws of this code were, however, copied verbatim from the Pentateuch. Ex. xxi. Lev. xx. Deut. xxii. 22, &c.
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reprinted immediately, that it may be preserved as a lasting memorial of " olden time."
In 1656 was raised the first troop of horse in the colony. For the encouragement of men to join the company, the mem- bers were exempted from paying taxes and training on foot. The general court, this year, ordered that the common soldiers should fire at the mark, and play at cudgels and the broad-sword.
In August, 1656, was laid a jurisdiction tax, a notice of which is here inserted to show the price of produce in which it was to be paid, and also the relative proportion of each plantation. The amount to be raised was £150 ; half was to be collected by the middle of October, the other half by the middle of the ensuing March. Good beaver was to be taken at the price current, wheat at 58. per bushel, peas and rye at 4s., corn at 3s., beef at 2d. half penny per pound, and pork at 3td. New Haven was to pay £56 2s. ; Milford, £32 14s. ; Guilford, £20 5s. ; Branford, £11 2s. ; Stamford, £17 14s. ; Southhold, £12.
On the 21st of August, 1661, King Charles II. was pub- licly proclaimed at New Haven, he having been restored to the English throne the year before. The court being met, he was acknowledged to be their sovereign lord and king, and proclaimed " to be the lawful king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and all other territories thereto belonging."' In the year 1661, Governor Winthrop, of Connecticut, was appointed agent of the colony to go to England and present a petition to King Charles II., for the purpose of obtaining a charter. The governor being a man of address, and assisted by Lord Say and Seal, and the earl of Manchester, friends of the colony, he obtained from the king, on the 20th of April, 1662, a let- ter patent, conveying the most ample privileges, under the great seal of England. The territory granted and confirmed to them, was bounded by Narraganset bay on the east, by Massachusetts on the north, on the south by the sea, and ex- tended to the South Sea on the west. The colony of New Haven, by the charter, was included within the limits of Con- necticut. This gave great dissatisfaction to the inhabitants of the colony, as they were included without having given their consent. The chief objections they urged, were that Connecticut admitted persons to the privileges of freemen who were not church members, and they were fearful, should they unite with Connecticut, that it would affect the order of
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their churches, (i. e. cause the separation of church and state ;) also, that after they had been to so much trouble and expense to form a distinct commonwealth, it was a grievous reflection, that their existence as a separate government should cease and their name be obliterated.
. Soon after the reception of the charter, Connecticut sent a committee to New Haven, consisting of Mr. Matthew Allyn, Samuel Wyllis, and Messrs. Hooker and Stone, to induce the colony to unite with them, and enjoy the privileges confirmed to them by royal grant. They failed to accomplish the object of their mission ; but soon after, some people of Southhold, Guilford, Stamford, and Greenwich, came under the government of Con- necticut. When New Haven constables began to distrain taxes, it occasioned alarming consequences. John Rossiter, son of Dr. Rossiter, of Guilford, obtained a constable, two magis- trates, and some others, of Hartford, to come down on the 30th of December, who, firing cannon, very much alarmed the people. Gov. Leete sent to Branford and New Haven, in the night, for aid. The next morning the gentlemen from Connecticut remonstrated against the collection of taxes by New Haven, of those who had submitted to Connecticut. In the summer of 1664, Milford broke off from New Haven, and would no more send magistrates or deputies to the gen- eral court. Mr. Law, of Stamford, deserted them. On the 13th of December, of that year, a general court was held at New Haven, when the members of the court, the elders of the colony, with John Nash and James Bishop, of New Ha- ven, and Francis Bell, of Stamford, committees, consulted upon the subject of the proposed union. After much discus- sion, Robert Treat, Esq., and Richard Baldwin, of Milford, were appointed a committee to accomplish the business with Connecticut ; and at the general election, May 1, 1665, both colonies amicably united, and John Winthrop, Esq., was chosen governor. At the time of the union, there were 19 towns in both colonies. Branford was the only town which persevered in opposition to the union. Mr. Pierson, and his whole church and congregation, were so dissatisfied with it that they soon removed into Newark, New Jersey. But the happy consequences of this union has proved how idle were the fears of the people about a consolidation.
Of the general officers of the " old jurisdiction" of New Ha- ven, there was made but very little change for a long num- ber of years. Mr. Eaton was annually chosen governor
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while he lived, and generally Mr. Goodyear deputy-governor. They had no salary, but served the people for the honor of it and the general good. Mr. Eaton died on the 7th of Jan- uary, 1657, and Mr. Goodyear died in London, in 1658. Francis Newman succeeded Mr. Eaton in the government of the colony, and was elected in May, 1657. For many years previous he had been secretary, and was well acquainted with the affairs of the colony, He was continued in office during life. Upon the election, on the 29th of May, 1661, William Leete, Esq., of Guilford, was chosen governor, and Matthew Gilbert, deputy-governor, and were continued in office till the union.
In 1653, the magistrates present at the court, were William Fowler and John Astwood, of Milford, William Leete, of Guilford, and Joshua Atwater and Francis Newman, of New Haven. In 1661, were elected to the office, Benjamin Fenn and Robert Treat, of Milford, Jasper Crane and John Wake- man, of New Haven, and Andrew Leete, of Guilford.
After the union of the colonies, the " old jurisdiction" of New Haven gave Connecticut three governors, viz., Leete, Treat, and Law. At the election, on the 11th of May, 1676, William Leete, Esq., of Guilford, was chosen governor, and Robert Treat, deputy-governor. After the death of Governor Leete, at the election in 1683, Robert Treat was chosen gov- ernor, and continued in office till 1698. William Jones, Esq., of New Haven, was deputy-governor. Jonathan Law, of Milford, was elected governor in 1742, and annually re- elected till 1751. Some of the magistrates of New Ha- ven, after the union, were, in 1655, William Leete, for Guil- ford, William Jones and Jasper Crane, for New Haven, Ben. jamin Fenn and Thomas Clark, for Milford, and Richard Law, for Stamford ; in 1668, Alexander Bryan and James Bishop ; in 1673, Robert Treat; in 1676, John Mason; in 1709, Josiah Rossiter and Samuel Eells.
It may be said of these illustrious men, that they were fa- thers of their country. They lived in times of the greatest difficulty and danger, yet always conducted affairs with such integrity and wisdom as to meet the approbation of the public.
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