How are the Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut similar?

(Acknowledgment: The following is the preface and edited version of the Fundamental Orders from Living American Documents, selected and edited by Isidore Starr, Lewis Paul Todd, and Merle Curti, ©1961 Harcourt, Brace & Co., inc.)

"The British people do not have a written constitution. They have an "unwritten" constitution composed of customs, traditions, and the important documents such as their Magna Carta and their Bill of Rights.

Some of the Englishmen who settled in the American colonies, including the men who founded the colony of Connecticut in 1636, did not have much faith in this approach to government. Unpleasant memories of recent authoritarian acts by England's rulers prompted the Connecticut settlers to put their plan of government into writing.

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was the first written constitution in America. 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. No mention was made of the king.

This document was a step in the direction of present-day democracy in that it set the example of a written constitution as the basis of government - a constitution which could be read and understood by all and which could not be changed by the will of one man or a small group."

East Hampton was a confederated township within the colony of Connecticut from 1657 until 1666 when it was brought into the colony of New York (under protest) by the Nicholls pattent. The town citizens of East Hampton cherished the liberties which they exercised within the colony of Connecticut. The MFOP, as the trustee corporation of Montauk, is a direct descendant of the town government of East Hampton at that time. We are intent on asserting and exercising these same fundamental rights and purposes as put forth in this document. Many of the principles of governance contained within the Fundamental Orders are to be incorporated in the Articulated Rights and Constitution of the MFOP/Montauk Trustee Corporation.

See: The Society of Coloial Wars in the State of Connecticut for a full version of the Fundamental Orders and other info.

Any discussion regarding the ideas used to create the US Constitution often begin with the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. As what is arguably the first written constitution in the Western world, the Fundamental Orders served as a model, first for other state constitutions, and then eventually for the nation. Relying largely on a philosophy promoted by Hartford founder, the Rev. Thomas Hooker, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut supported rule through “the consent of the governed.” The concept made such an impression on Thomas Jefferson that the Virginian inserted those words in the Declaration of Independence.

The Fundamental Orders

After creating a General Court in 1637 to rule over Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, political leaders agreed the framework for their government needed to be written and approved by representatives of the people. 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. Some 11 orders followed, ranging from setting rules for scheduling meetings and holding elections by free men using secret ballots to giving the governor and the six elected magistrates “power to administer justice according to the laws here established” in the General Court. In addition, the Fundamental Orders required each town to elect four “deputies” to create a legislative branch. The last of the decrees gave the emerging colony the power to tax.

John Morrison teaches US history at Moran Middle School in Wallingford, is a participant in the Teaching American History program of the US Department of Education, and a Civil War re-enactor with Company F 14th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment. He holds a BA from New England College as well as an MA and Sixth Year Professional Diploma from Southern Connecticut State University.

Learn More

Places

Museum of Connecticut History, Connecticut State Library. “Exhibit: Liberties & Legends,” 2016. Link.

Documents

Yale Law School. “The Avalon Project: Fundamental Orders of 1639,” 2016. Link.

Books

United States Constitution Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, and Connecticut Humanities Council. “Charter of 1662: English Colony to Independent State (1662-1818).” In 350 Years of Connecticut Government. a Search for the Common Good. Teacher’s Manual, pgs. 75-107. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Consortium for Law-Related Education, 1991.

United States Constitution Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, and Connecticut Humanities Council. “The Fundamental Orders: The Founding of Connecticut and the Emergence of Self-Government.” In 350 Years of Connecticut Government. a Search for the Common Good. Teacher’s Manual, pgs. 47-69. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Consortium for Law-Related Education, 1991.

United States Constitution Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, and Connecticut Humanities Council. “Why Government?” In 350 Years of Connecticut Government. a Search for the Common Good. Teacher’s Manual, pgs. 1-41. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Consortium for Law-Related Education, 1991.

Articles

Hartford Courant (1887-1922). “Connecticut’s Constitution: The Work of the Early Settlers -Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Good Government.” January 22, 1889, sec. ProQuest - Hartford Courant Historical Newspaper database - Available through requestITCT.org.

Hartford Courant (1887-1922). “Two Precious Pamphlets.” July 20, 1914, sec. ProQuest - Hartford Courant Historical Newspaper database - Available through requestITCT.org.

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.

For two years before the adoption of the Fundamental Orders, Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield cooperated under a simple form of government composed of magistrates and representatives from each town, but the towns had no formal instrument of government. Roger Ludlow of Windsor, the only trained lawyer in the colony, probably drafted  the Fundamental Orders, although he may have been assisted by Hartford residents John Haynes (a former Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony), Edward Hopkins, and John Steel. The document consisted of a preamble and 11 orders or laws. The preamble was a covenant which bound the three towns to be governed in all civil matters by the Orders. The preamble, then, was a civil equivalent of a church covenant. (The model of the Biblical covenant  served as the foundation for all Puritan organizations.) The Connecticut General Court adopted the Fundamental Orders on January 14, 1639. (The colonists did not follow current conventions for marking a year and, thus, the date on the document itself is listed as 1638.)

General Court held Legislative, Executive, Judicial, and Administrative Authority

The 11 orders clearly followed the Massachusetts government model and were consistent with 17th-century trading company charters. The Orders called for the convening of general courts every April and September. At the April Court of Election, a governor and six magistrates were to be chosen. No man could serve as governor more than once every two years, a restriction that lasted until 1660. To prevent hasty, ill-considered choices, nominations for election were made at the September General Court by the deputies from each town. The governor and magistrates, who composed the nucleus for an Upper House, were to be elected by the freemen at the Court of Election. The other Orders prescribed regulations for nomination and election and set forth conditions for calling the General Court into special session. No religious test was established for voting, the Orders omitted all reference to the authority of the crown, and the General Court was given supreme authority over the towns and their inhabitants. The General Court was authorized to adopt and repeal laws, impose taxes, distribute land, apprehend and punish people for misdemeanors, and enact legislation to promote the general good. The General Court was granted, then, all legislative, executive, judicial, and administrative authority. The right to elect deputies and magistrates was, however, reserved to the freemen.

The matter of whether the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut should be considered a constitution in the modern sense, let alone honored as the first written constitution (as was once claimed), remains a matter of debate. Nevertheless, they served as the basis for government in Connecticut until 1662. They are also the reason why, in 1959, the General Assembly officially designated Connecticut as “the Constitution State.”

By Bruce P. Stark; excerpted from Connecticut History and Culture: an Historical Overview and Resource Guide for Teachers (1985), edited by David Roth.

Learn More

Places

Museum of Connecticut History, Connecticut State Library. “Exhibit: Liberties & Legends,” 2016. Link.

Documents

Government Printing Office. “The Avalon Project: Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven, June 4, 1639.” Yale Law School, 2016. Link.

Yale Law School. “The Avalon Project: Fundamental Orders of 1639,” 2016. Link.

Books

Bacon, Leonard, and Connecticut Historical Society. A Discourse on the Early Constitutional History of Connecticut: Delivered Before the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, May 17, 1843. Hartford, CT: Case, Tiffany & Burnham, 1843. Link.

Andrews, Charles McLean. Connecticut’s Place in Colonial History; an Address Delivered Before the Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars, 28 May 1923. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1924.

Mangan, Gregg. On This Day in Connecticut History. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2015.

Jones, Mary Jeanne Anderson, and Connecticut. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. Hartford, CT: U.S. Constitution Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, 1988.

Connecticut General Assembly, and Tercentenary Commission of the State of Connecticut. Committee on Historical Publications. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. Edited by George Matthew Dutcher. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1934. Link.

Articles

Bates, Carlos. “Were the Fundamental Orders a Constitution?” Connecticut Bar Journal, no. 1 (January 1936): 43–50.

How was the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut similar to the Mayflower Compact?

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. This means that these people did not believe in separation from the church.

What is unique about the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut?

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.

Why was the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut considered to be the first constitution in America?

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was an early agreement between the colonial communities of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor that established a representative government based on the example of a number of Massachusetts colonies. It's arguably the very first constitution of the American colonies.

Why are the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut 1638 most important in United States political history?

…the colony began with the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1638), a civil covenant by the settlers establishing the system by which the river towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield agreed to govern themselves. The orders created an annual assembly of legislators and provided for the election of a governor.

How is the Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut different?

How are the Mayflower Compact and the US Constitution similar?

How are the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and House of Burgesses similar?

How are the Mayflower Compact and the Magna Carta similar How are they different?