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Fundamental Orders of 1639
For as much as it hath pleased 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 are now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connectecotte and the lands
thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God
requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent
Government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of 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 maintain and
preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also, the
discipline of the Churches, which according to the truth of the said Gospel is now practiced amongst
us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such Laws, Rules, Orders and
Decrees as shall be made, ordered, and decreed as followeth:
1. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that there shall be yearly two General Assemblies or
Courts, the one the second Thursday in April, the other the second Thursday in September
following; the first shall be called the Court of Election, wherein shall be yearly chosen from time to
time, so many Magistrates and other public Officers as shall be found requisite: Whereof one to be
chosen Governor for the year ensuing and until another be chosen, and no other Magistrate to be
chosen for more than one year: provided always there be six chosen besides the Governor, which
being chosen and sworn according to an Oath recorded for that purpose, shall have the power to
administer justice according to the Laws here established, and for want thereof, according to the
Rule of the Word of God; which choice shall be made by all that are admitted freemen and have
taken the Oath of Fidelity, and do cohabit within this Jurisdiction having been admitted Inhabitants
by the major part of the Town wherein they live or the major part of such as shall be then present.
2. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the election of the aforesaid Magistrates shall be in
this manner: every person present and qualified for choice shall bring in (to the person deputed to
receive them) one single paper with the name of him written in it whom he desires to have Governor,
and that he that hath the greatest number of papers shall be Governor for that year. And the rest of
the Magistrates or public officers to be chosen in this manner: the Secretary for the time being shall
first read the names of all that are to be put to choice and then shall severally nominate them
distinctly, and every one that would have the person nominated to be chosen shall bring in one single
paper written upon, and he that would not have him chosen shall bring in a blank; and every one that
hath more written papers than blanks shall be a Magistrate for that year; which papers shall be
received and told by one or more that shall be then chosen by the court and sworn to be faithful
therein; but in case there should not be six chosen as aforesaid, besides the Governor, out of those
which are nominated, than he or they which have the most writen papers shall be a Magistrate or
Magistrates for the ensuing year, to make up the aforesaid number.
3. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Secretary shall not nominate any person, nor shall
any person be chosen newly into the Magistracy which was not propounded in some General Court
before, to be nominated the next election; and to that end it shall be lawful for each of the Towns
aforesaid by their deputies to nominate any two whom they conceive fit to be put to election; and the
Court may add so many more as they judge requisite.
4. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that no person be chosen Governor above once in two
years, and that the Governor be always a member of some approved Congregation, and formerly of
the Magistracy within this Jurisdiction; and that all the Magistrates, Freemen of this Commonwealth;
and that no Magistrate or other public officer shall execute any part of his or their office before they
are severally sworn, which shall be done in the face of the court if they be present, and in case of
absence by some deputed for that purpose.
5. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that to the aforesaid Court of Election the several Towns
shall send their deputies, and when the Elections are ended they may proceed in any public service
as at other Courts. Also the other General Court in September shall be for making of laws, and any
other public occasion, which concerns the good of the Commonwealth.
6. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Governor shall, either by himself or by the
Secretary, send out summons to the Constables of every Town for the calling of these two standing
Courts one month at least before their several times: And also if the Governor and the greatest part
of the Magistrates see cause upon any special occasion to call a General Court, they may give order
to the Secretary so to do within fourteen days' warning: And if urgent necessity so required, upon a
shorter notice, giving sufficient grounds for it to the deputies when they meet, or else be questioned
for the same; And if the Governor and major part of Magistrates shall either neglect or refuse to call
the two General standing Courts or either of them, as also at other times when the occasions of the
Commonwealth require, the Freemen thereof, or the major part of them, shall petition to them so to
do; if then it be either denied or neglected, the said Freemen, or the major part of them, shall have
the power to give order to the Constables of the several Towns to do the same, and so may meet
together, and choose to themselves a Moderator, and may proceed to do any act of power which
any other General Courts may.
7. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that after there are warrants given out for any of the said
General Courts, the Constable or Constables of each Town, shall forthwith give notice distinctly to
the inhabitants of the same, in some public assembly or by going or sending from house to house,
that at a place and time by him or them limited and set, they meet and assemble themselves together
to elect and choose certain deputies to be at the General Court then following to agitate the affairs of
the Commonwealth; which said deputies shall be chosen by all that are admitted Inhabitants in the
several Towns and have taken the oath of fidelity; provided that none be chosen a Deputy for any
General Court which is not a Freeman of this Commonwealth.
The aforesaid deputies shall be chosen in manner following: every person that is present and qualified
as before expressed, shall bring the names of such, written in several papers, as they desire to have
chosen for that employment, and these three or four, more or less, being the number agreed on to be
chosen for that time, that have the greatest number of papers written for them shall be deputies for
that Court; whose names shall be endorsed on the back side of the warrant and returned into the
Court, with the Constable or Constables' hand unto the same.
8. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield shall have
power, each Town, to send four of their Freemen as their deputies to every General Court; and
Whatsoever other Town shall be hereafter added to this Jurisdiction, they shall send so many
deputies as the Court shall judge meet, a reasonable proportion to the number of Freemen that are in
the said Towns being to be attended therein; which deputies shall have the power of the whole Town
to give their votes and allowance to all such laws and orders as may be for the public good, and unto
which the said Towns are to be bound.
9. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the deputies thus chosen shall have power and liberty
to appoint atime and a place of meeting together before any General Court, to advise and consult of
all such things as may concern the good of the public, as also to examine their own Elections,
whether according to the order, and if they or the greatest part of them find any election to be illegal
they may seclude such for present from their meeting, and return the same and their reasons to the
Court; and if it be proved true, the Court may fine the party or parties so intruding, and the Town, if
they see cause, and give out a warrant to go to a new election in a legal way, either in part or in
whole. Also the said deputies shall have power to fine any that shall be disorderly at their meetings,
or for not coming in due time or place according to appointment; and they may return the said fines
into the Court if it be refused to be paid, and the Treasurer to take notice of it, and to escheat or
levy the same as he does other fines.
10. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that every General Court, except such as through neglect
of the Governor and the greatest part of the Magistrates the Freemen themselves do call, shall
consist of the Governor, or some one chosen to moderate the Court, and four other Magistrates at
least, with the major part of the deputies of the several Towns legally chosen; and in case the
Freemen, or major part of them, through neglect or refusal of the Governor and major part of the
Magistrates, shall call a Court, it shall consist of the major part of Freemen that are present or their
deputiues, with a Moderator chosen by them: In which said General Courts shall consist the supreme
power of the Commonwealth, and they only shall have power to make laws or repeal them, to grant
levies, to admit of Freemen, dispose of lands undisposed of, to several Towns or persons, and also
shall have power to call either Court or Magistrate or any other person whatsoever into question for
any misdemeanor, and may for just causes displace or deal otherwise according to the nature of the
offense; and also may deal in any other matter that concerns the good of this Commonwealth, except
election of Magistrates, which shall be done by the whole body of Freemen.
In which Court the Governor or Moderator shall have power to order the Court, to give liberty of
speech, and silence unseasonable and disorderly speakings, to put all things to vote, and in case the
vote be equal to have the casting voice. But none of these Courts shall be adjourned or dissolved
without the consent of the major part of the Court.
11. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that when any General Court upon the occasions of the
Commonwealth have agreed upon any sum, or sums of money to be levied upon the several Towns
within this Jurisdiction, that a committee be chosen to set out and appoint what shall be the
proportion of every Town to pay of the said levy, provided the committee be made up of an equal
number out of each Town.
14th January 1639 the 11 Orders above said are voted.
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