Adopted in January 1639, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut stated the powers and limits of government. The preamble of the Fundamental Orders officially formed a confederation under the guidance of God—standing in stark contrast to today’s ideas about the separation of church and state.

The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony council on January 14, 1639 O.S. (January 24, 1639 N.S.). The fundamental orders describe the government set up by the Connecticut River towns, setting its structure and powers. They wanted the government to have access to the open ocean for trading.

The Fundamental Orders (1639) was a short document, sometimes refer to as an early Constitution, that consisted of a preamble and 11 orders or laws in which three English colony in North America, known as the “Connecticut towns”: Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield agreed to be governed in all civil matters by the …

Hartford, Connecticut

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) was the first written Constitution in the Western tradition, and the prototype for future Constitutions. It established the structure and power of the government and gave men more voting rights and chances to be eligible to run for elections.

From the first, Connecticut enjoyed a great measure of political independence, proclaiming in its Fundamental Orders of 1639 a democratic principle of government based on the will of the people.

The Fundamental Orders, inspired by Thomas Hooker’s sermon of May 31, 1638, provided the framework for the government of the Connecticut colony from 1639 to 1662.

Roger Ludlow

Whereas the Mayflower Compact was a general statement in favor of majority rule and government in the interest of the common welfare, the Fundamental Orders set up a detailed scheme of government in which the sovereign power rested with the freemen.

The similarity between the Mayflower Compact, and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is that in both documents it says that thy will be helped by G-d. The Mayflower Compact only states that a group of people will be going to set up a colony were a government and a church would be set up.

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 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.

Finally, it states the powers of the government and the limits of that power. Connecticut had been governing itself since Thomas Hooker led a band of Puritans away from Massachusetts in 1636. The Fundamental Orders gave men more voting rights than they had in Massachusetts and allowed more men to run for office.

Why was the creation of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut an important milestone in the growth of representative government in the colonies? It was a written constitution and is considered the first in the colonies. It established the first legislature in the colonies, the House of Burgesses.

The difference between the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and the Massachusetts Bay Colony was that the Connecticut government did not require church membership for the right to vote. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was one of the first English settlements in America.

Virginia House of Burgesses

Connecticut is known as the Constitution State because of its early adoption of the Fundamental Orders in 1639, thought to be the earliest document of its kind in western civilization.

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was an initial contract between the provincial societies of Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford that installed a representational government based on the model of some Massachusetts communities. It was regarded as the earliest constitution of the colonies of America.

Why were the Fundamental Orders important, and what did they provide for Connecticut colonists? The Fundamental Orders were important because they united all of the communities into a new colony, and that colony is called Connecticut. They provided the right for everyone in the colony to vote and hold office.

Answer: They sent the first families to establish a Dutch position in the New World.

By 1664, the population of New Netherland had risen to almost 9,000 people, 2,500 of whom lived in New Amsterdam, 1,000 lived near Fort Orange, and the remainder in other towns and villages. In 1664 the English took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York City after the Duke of York (later James II & VII).

Both succeeded by developing cash-intensive crops. Both struggled with starvation and other harsh conditions. Both were driven by economic success over religious freedom.

The political structures of the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies were different in that the Plymouth colonists did not settle in the area specified in their charter, so they wrote their own governing rules. Virginia was settled in 1607 and founded Jamestown.

Virginia-Jamestown offered anchorage and a good defensive position. Warm climate and fertile soil allowed large plantations to prosper. Massachusetts-Plymouth provided good anchorage and an excellent harbor. Cold climate and thin, rocky soil limited farm size.

When Pilgrims and other settlers set out on the ship for America in 1620, they intended to lay anchor in northern Virginia. Knowing life without laws could prove catastrophic, colonist leaders created the Mayflower Compact to ensure a functioning social structure would prevail.

The rest of the Mayflower Compact is very short. It simply bound the signers into a “Civil Body Politic” for the purpose of passing “just and equal Laws . . . for the general good of the Colony.” But those few words expressed the idea of self-government for the first time in the New World.