Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (January 14, 1639) was the first constitution written in America, establishing a pattern which all others followed, including the United States Constitution. It was penned by Roger Ludlow, 1638, after hearing a sermon by Thomas Hooker, the Puritan minister who founded Hartford, Connecticut. So important was this work that Connecticut became known as "The Constitution State."
The committee responsible to frame the orders was charged to make the laws:
<As near the law of God as they can be.> 1639FO001
On January 14, 1639, the Connecticut towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor adopted the constitution, which stated in its Preamble:
<Forasmuch as it has pleased the Almighty God by the wise disposition of His divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we the inhabitants and residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield and now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River Connecticut and the lands thereunto adjoining; and well knowing when a people are gathered together the Word of God requires, that to meinteine the peace and union of such a people, there should bee an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of all the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one public State or Commonwealth, 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 meinteine and presearve the libberty and purity of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus which we now professe, as also the discipline of the churches,
Which, according to the truth of the said Gospell, is now practised amongst us; as allso, in our civill affaires to be guided and governed according to such lawes, rules, orders, and decrees....
I. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed, that there shall be yearly two General Assemblies...wherein shall be yearly chosen from time to time so many Magistrates and other public Officers as shall be found requiste...which being chosen and sworne according to an Oath recorded for that purpose shall have power to administer justice according to the Laws here established, and for want thereof according to the rule of the Word of God....
The Oath of the Governor: "I, N.W., being now chosen to be Governor within this jurisdiction, for the year ensuing, and until a new be chosen, do swear by the great and dreadful name of the everliving God, to promote the public good and peace of the same, according to the best of my skill; as also will maintain all lawful privileges of this Commonwealth; as also that all wholesome laws that are or shall be made by lawful authority here established, be duly executed; and will further the execution of Justice according to the rule of God's Word; so help me God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."> 1639FO002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1639FO001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, January 14, 1639. Old South Leaflets, No. 8. John Fiske, The Beginning of New England (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1889, 1898), p. 127-128. The World Book Encyclopedia, 18 vols. (Chicago, IL: Field Enterprises, Inc., 1957; W.F. Quarrie and Company, 8 vols., 1917; World Book, Inc., 22 vols., 1989), Vol. 3, p. 1675. John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution, 1860 (reprinted NY: Burt Franklin, 1970), p. XIX.
1639FO002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, January 14, 1639, Connecticut Towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor. Old South Leaflets, No. 8. Connecticut Colonial Records, Vol. 1, pp. 20-25. Old South Leaflets, Published by the Directors of the Old South Work, Old South Meeting House, Boston, n.d. The Code of 1650, Being a Compilation of the Earliest Laws and Orders of the General Court of Connecticut (Hartford: Silus Andrus, 1822), p. 2. Perley Poore, ed., The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the United States (Washington, 1877), Part I:249-251. Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., 143 U.S. 457, 458, 465-471, 36 L ed 226, (1892), Justice David Josiah Brewer. Charles W. Eliot, LL.D., ed., American Historical Documents 1000- 1904 (New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company, The Harvard Classics, 1910), Vol. 43, pp. 63-69. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), Vol. I, pp. 22-23. Paul M. Angle, ed., By These Words (NY: Rand McNally & Company, 1954), pp. 6-7. Verna M. Hall, The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco, CA: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1960, 1980), pp. 253-257. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968, 1977), Vol. I. p. 157. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), pp. 2, 6. Michael P. Farris, Constitutional Law for Christian Students (Paeonian Springs, VA: Home School Legal Defense Association, 1991), p. 8. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 37. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 1.