It extended eight miles east of the river Quinnipiack, and five miles west of it towards Hudson's river. It included all the lands within the ancient limits of the old towns of New-Haven, Branford, and Wallingford, and almost the whole contained in the present limits of those towns, and of the towns of East-Haven, Woodbridge, Cheshire, Hamden, and North-Haven. These have since been made out of the three old towns.

The New-Haven adventurers were the most opulent company which came into New-England, and they designed to plant a capital colony. They laid out their town plat in squares, designing it for a great and elegant city. In the centre was a large, beautiful square. This was encompassed with others, making nine in the whole.

The first principal settlers were Theophilus Eaton, Esq. Mr. Davenport, Mr. Samuel Eaton, Mr. Thomas Gregson, Mr. Robert Newman, Mr. Matthew Gilbert, Mr. Nathaniel Turner, Mr. Thomas Fugill, Mr. Francis Newman, Mr. Stephen Goodyear, and Mr. Joshua Atwater.

Mr. Eaton had been deputy-governor of the East India company, and was three years himself in the East Indies. He served the company so well, that he received from them presents of great value. He had been on an embassy from the court of England to the king of Denmark. He was a London merchant, who had, for many years, traded to the East Indies, had obtained a great estate, and brought over a large sum of money into New-England.2 Others were merchants of fair estates, and they designed to have been a great trading city.

There appears no act of civil, military, or ecclesiastical authority, during the first year; nor is there any appearance, that this colony was ever straitened for bread, as the other colonies had been.

Mr. Prudden, and his company, who came with Mr. Davenport, continued the first summer at Quinnipiack, and were making preparations for the settlement of another township.

When Mr. Davenport removed to Quinnipiack, Mr. Hopkins came to Hartford, and soon after incorporated with the settlers of Connecticut.

The inhabitants of the three towns upon Connecticut river, finding themselves without the limits of the Massachusetts patent, conceived the plan of forming themselves, by voluntary compact, into a distinct commonwealth.

For this last tract of ten miles north and south, and thirteen east and west, the English gave thirteen coats, and allowed the Indians ground to plant, and liberty to hunt within the lands. Records of New-Haven.

? The tradition is, that he brought to New-Haven a very great estate, in plate and money. The East India company made his wife a present of a bason and ewer, double gilt, and curiously wrought with gold, weighing more than sixty pounds.

On the 14th of January, 1639,1 all the free planters convened at Hartford, and, on mature deliberation, adopted a constitution of government. They introduce their constitution, with a declaration to this effect, That for the establishment of order and government, they associated, and conjoined themselves to be one public state or commonwealth; and did, for themselves and successors, and such as should be, at any time, joined to them, confederate together, to maintain the liberty and purity of the gospel, which they professed, and the discipline of the churches, according to its institution; and in all civil affairs, to be governed according to such laws, as should be made agreeably to the constitution, which they were then about to adopt.

The constitution, which then follows, ordains, That there shall be, annually, two general courts, or assemblies; one on the second Thursday in April, and the other on the second Thursday in September: That the first, shall be the court of election, in which shall be annually chosen, at least, six magistrates, and all other public officers. It ordains, that a governor should be chosen, distinct from the six magistrates, for one year, and until another should be chosen and sworn: and that the governor and magistrates should be sworn to a faithful execution of the laws of the colony, and in cases in which there was no express law established, to be governed by the divine word. Agreeably to the constitution, the choice of these officers was to be made by the whole body of the freemen, convened in general election. It provided, that all persons, who had been received as members of the several towns, by a majority of the inhabitants, and had taken the oath of fidelity to the commonwealth, should be admitted freemen of the colony. It required, that the governor and magistrates should be elected by ballot; the governor by the greatest number of votes, and the magistrates by a majority. However, it provided, that if it should so happen, at any time, that six should not have a majority, that in such case, those who had the greatest number of suffrages, should stand as duly elected for that year. No person might be governor, unless he were a member of some regular church, and had previously been a magistrate in the colony. Nor could any man be elected to the office, more than once in two years. No one could be chosen into the magistracy who was not a freeman of the colony, and had been nominated, either by the freemen, or the general court. The assembly were authorised to nominate, in cases in which they judged it expedient. Neither the governor, nor magistrates, might execute any part of their office until they had been publicly sworn, in the face of the General Assembly.

1 This stands on the records of the colony, January 14th, 1638, which is owing to the manner of dating at that time. The first settlers of the colony, began their year on the 25th of March; and until this time, they dated 1638; but it was most evidently 1639, as the December preceding, was 1638, and the April following, 1639

The constitution also ordained, that the several towns should send their respective deputies to the election: and that when it was finished, they should proceed to do any public service, as at any other courts: and, that the assembly, in September, should be for the enacting of laws, and other public services. It authorised the governor, either by himself or his secretary, to issue his warrants for calling the assemblies, one month at least, before the time of their appointed meetings. Upon particular emergencies, he might convene them in seventeen days, or even upon shorter notice, stating the reasons in his warrant. Upon the reception of the governor's warrants, in April and September, the constables of the respective towns were obliged to warn all the freemen to elect and send their deputies.

The constitution ordained, that the three towns of Windsor, Hartford and Weathersfield, should each of them send four deputies to every general court; and, that the other towns, which should be added to the colony in future, should send such a number as the court should determine, proportionate to the body of their freemen. The constitution declared the deputies to be vested with the whole power of the respective towns which they represented. It authorised them to meet separately, and determine their own elections, to fine any person who should obtrude himself upon them, when he had not been duly chosen, and to fine any of their members for disorderly conduct, when they were assembled.

Further, the constitution provided, that in case the governor and the major part of the magistrates should, upon any urgent occasion, neglect or refuse to call an assembly, the freemen should petition them to summon one; and, if, upon the petition of a major part of the freemen in the colony, they still refused or neglected, then the constables of the several towns should, upon the petition of the major part of the freemen, convoke an assembly. It also ordained, that when this assembly was convened, it should have power of choosing a moderator; and when it was thus formed, should exercise all the powers of any other general assembly. Particularly it was authorised to call any court, magistrate, or any other person before it, and to displace, or inflict penalties according to the nature of the offence.

All general assemblies, called by the governor, were to consist of the governor, four magistrates, and the major part of the deputies. When there was an equal vote, the governor had a casting voice. The constitution also provided, that no general court should be adjourned or dissolved, without the consent of a major part of the members: and that, whenever a tax was laid upon the inhabitants, the sum to be paid by each town should be determined by a committee, consisting of an equal number from each of the respective towns.

The form of oaths to be administered to the governor and mag

istrates was also adopted in the general convention of the free planters. This, for substance, was the original constitution of Connecticut.1

With such wisdom did our venerable ancestors provide for the freedom and liberties of themselves and their posterity. Thus happily did they guard against every encroachment on the rights of the subject. This, probably, is one of the most free and happy constitutions of civil government which has ever been formed. The formation of it, at so early a period, when the light of liberty was wholly darkened in most parts of the earth, and the rights of men were so little understood in others, does great honor to their ability, integrity, and love to mankind. To posterity indeed, it exhibited a most benevolent regard. It has continued, with little alteration, to the present time. The happy consequences of it, which, for more than a century and half, the people of Connecticut have experienced, are without description."

Agreeably to the constitution, the freemen convened at Hartford, on the second Thursday in April, and elected their officers for the year ensuing.

John Haynes, Esq. was chosen governor, and Roger Ludlow, George Wyllys, Edward Hopkins, Thomas Wells, John Webster and William Phelps, Esquires, were chosen magistrates. Mr. Ludlow, the first of the six magistrates, was deputy governor. Mr. Hopkins was chosen secretary, and Mr. Wells treasurer.

The deputies sent to this first general assembly, in Connecticut, were Mr. John Steele, Mr. Spencer, Mr. John Pratt, Mr. Edward Stebbins, Mr. Gaylord, Mr. Henry Wolcott, Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Ford, Mr. Thurston Rayner, Mr. James Boosy, Mr. George Hubbard, and Mr. Richard Crab.

The general assembly proceded as they had leisure, and as occasion required, to enact a system of laws. The laws at first were few, and time was taken to consider and digest them. The first statute in the Connecticut code is a kind of declaration, or bill of rights. It ordains, that no man's life shall be taken away; no man's honor or good name be stained, no man's person shall be arrested, restrained, banished, dismembered, nor any wise punished: That no man shall be deprived of his wife or children; no man's goods or estate shall be taken away from him, nor any wise endamaged, under colour of law, or countenance of authority, unless it should be by the virtue of some express law of the colony

1 Appendix, No. III.

For the influence of Thomas Hooker in establishing the fundamental principles of this constitution, see Walker's Thomas Hooker, pp. 122-128, also Johnston's Connecticut, p. 71, in both of which it is shown that Hooker, not only in his letter to Winthrop, but more particularly in a sermon preached at an adjourned session of the General Court of April, 1638, laid down the principles which govern this constitution. The notes of this sermon were discovered and deciphered by the late J. Hammond Trumbull, and first published in the Collections of the Conn. Historical Society, p. 19.-J. T.

warranting the same, established by the general court, and sufficiently published; or in case of the defect of such law, in any particular case, by some clear and plain rule of the word of God, in which the whole court shall concur. It was also ordained that all persons in the colony, whether inhabitants or not, should enjoy the same law and justice without partiality or delay. These general precepts bore the same aspect, and breathed the same spirit of liberty and safety, with respect to the subjects universally, which is exhibited in the constitution.

The planters of Quinnipiack continued more than a year without any civil or religious constitution, or compact, further than had been expressed in their plantation covenant.

Meanwhile, Mr. Henry Whitfield, William Leet, Esq. Samuel Desborough, Robert Kitchel, William Chittenden and others, who were part of Dr. Davenport's and Mr. Eaton's company, arrived to assist them in their new settlement. These were principally from Kent and Surrey, in the vicinity of London. Mr. Whitfield's people, like Mr. Davenport's, followed him into NewEngland. There were now three ministers, with many of the members of their former churches and congregations, collected in this infant colony, and combined in the same general agreement. On the 4th of June, all the free planters at Quinnipiack convened in a large barn of Mr. Newman's, and, in a very formal and solemn manner, proceeded to lay the foundations of their civil and religious polity.

Mr. Davenport introduced the business, by a sermon from the words of the royal preacher, "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." His design was to show, that the church, the house of God, should be formed of seven pillars, or principal brethren, to whom all the other members of the church should be added. After a solemn invocation of the Divine Majesty, he proceeded to represent to the planters, that they were met to consult respecting the settlement of civil government according to the will of God, and for the nomination of persons, who, by universal consent, were, in all respects the best qualified for the foundation work of a church. He enlarged on the great importance of the transactions before them, and desired, that no man would give his voice, in any matter, until he fully understood it; and, that all would act, without respect to any man, but give their vote in the fear of God. He then proposed a number of questions in consequence of which the following resolutions were passed.

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 commonwealth, as in matters of the church."

1 Old code of Connecticut.