New Haven Constitution (1639) was drawn up at Quinipiack (New Haven), Connecticut. The first colonial example of a written constitution, constituting a government and defining its powers, was composed as a distinct organic act. The articles which made up this New Haven Connecticut Constitution included:
<Article I. That the Scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God and men, as well in families and commonwealths as in matters of the church.
Article II. That as in matters which concern the gathering and ordering of a church, so likewise in all public offices which concern civil order,-as the choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature,-they would all be governed by those rules which the Scripture held forth to them.
Article III. That all those who had desired to be received free planters had settled in the plantation with a purpose, resolution, and desire that they might be admitted into church fellowship according to Christ.
Article IV. That all the free planters held themselves bound to establish such civil order as might best conduce to the securing of the purity and peace of the ordinance to themselves, and their posterity according to God.> 1639NC001
Following the adoption of the Constitution, Rev. Mr. Davenport solemnly charged the governor of the Colony, quoting from Deuteronomy 1:16- 17:
<And I charge your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.> 1639NC002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1639NC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Haven Constitution, 1639, Articles I-IV. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639, in the articles of the constitution of Connecticut drawn up in Quinipiack (New Haven), Connecticut. Benjamin Franklin Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 67-68. Gary DeMar, God and Government-A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1982), pp. 113-114.
1639NC002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Haven Constitution, 1639, charge to the governor by Rev. Mr. Davenport. Benjamin Franklin Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), p. 114. Gary DeMar, God and Government-A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1982), p. 114.