| Show Filst Written Constitution Was Framed in America Years Ago On January I 14 14 4 I 1639 Representatives from Three Connecticut Towns Assembled at af Hartford And There Adopted the Fundamental Orders That Provided a Model for the Federal Constitution Under Which the United States Is Now Governed Dy fly ELMO ELl SCOTT WATSON C O Newspaper Union S h S S S S 55 S S i i S T i i 5 5 S 5 I IS S 5 5 5 v 5 5 d Js J's 1 J II V 1 1 5 S l J rt 1 fJ d 1 1 a t 1 I. I V r. r 4 r. r lk k r cr r i At Ib 1 I KH ij I. I d f PJ r t. t f S f Mo I o el iI a r J soa r. r t 5 t ft 4 I. I s t tS S S. S frS I c y S I L t I A Ai i I ra 1 T t I I. j p l' l fJ cl r. r l fl f t l f ff n ij d f f l l. l f f o I I I. t 5 l. l I It 1 t t. t 1 r 3 J J 4 S. S r- r o. o t S is' is l. l L f I. i 33 J S 11 f at 1 d' d 1 1 f i. 1 r j e. X p l- l J Co f 1 c. 1 t 1 t Ii 4 00 w jr t u t i- i r r iMf V i t J v v J Jr liili i a 0 Preamble of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut hundred years ago this month a little group of T THREE English colonists in America gathered together and adopted for the first time in the history of the world a written constitution springing from the people and creating creating creat creat- ing a government for them It contained no reference to a dread sovereign or a beloved king it king it quietly assumed that the people had bad a right aright to rule themselves it provided lor br a legislative legisla- legisla tive assembly called the General Court whose members memo mem bers were elected by the people while the he executive and judicial functions of the government were exercised by a governor and six magistrates magistrates magis magis- or assistants also forming part of the General Court and elected by the peo peo- Such was the Fundamental Fundamental Funda mental Orders of Connecticut cut adopted at Hartford on January 14 1639 Under it it according to one historian his torian Connecticut was as absolutely absolutely absolutely ab ab- ab- ab a state in 1639 as it was in 1776 1778 and it formed the basis of the charter of 1662 which remained remained remained re re- re- re in force until 1818 But Butmore Butmore Butmore more important than that is the fact that it served as the basis for the federal Constitution which a new nation the United States of America would adopt odd years later For as another historian points out it will be noticed that this original Constitution of Connecticut cut had certain similarities to the present Constitution of the United States inasmuch as the individuality individuality individuality of the town was recognized on the one hand and the main body of the people on the other as in our national system both the states and the whole people are represented It is an interesting interesting inter inter- esting fact that in the federal convention of 1787 the compromise compromise compro compro- mise in accordance with which our national arrangement was agreed upon was called the Connecticut Connecticut Con compromise First Settlement For an understanding of this historic document it is necessary to go back a few years in New England history In 1630 the Plymouth company had granted the Connecticut country to the Earl of Warwick who turned it over to Lord Say and Sele Lord Brooke and others In 1635 John Winthrop son of the Massachusetts governor acting act ing lag for the proprietors of Connecticut Connecticut Con Con- established a colony near the mouth of the Connecticut cut river and named it Saybrook in lit their honor A few years later another settlement was founded at New Haven Meanwhile however how ever emigrants from the older towns of Massachusetts Bay colony colony colony col col- col- col ony began swarming into the northern part of what is now Con Con- Their migration f was mainly due to their dissatisfaction with the hard rule of the united church and state in Massachusetts One man particularly who dissected from this rule was Rev Thomas Hooker Herein of ye fame of River they had a hankering mind after it says a contemporary chronicler So in 1636 1630 Hooker and a congregation of more than set forth for the Connecticut valley arrived at the site of Hartford and there made their settlement Within a year the new colony of Connecticut had more than people gathered in the three towns of Windsor Hartford and Wethersfield Although nominally nominal nominal- ly under the control of Massachusetts Massa it soon became evident that the people of Connecticut had a hankering mind after a government of their own Trained for Law One of the colonists of Windsor was a lawyer named Roger Ludlow Ludlow Lud Lud- low born in Wiltshire in 1590 educated at college Oxford Oxford Ox Ox- ford and admitted to the Inner Temple in London in 1612 Having become a stockholder in the Massachusetts Massachusetts Mas Mas- Bay company in 1630 he was appointed an assistant to Gov John Winthrop In March of that year he sailed for New England Ludlow took a leading part in founding Dorchester where he held several offices such as land commissioner and justice of the peace In 1634 he was elected deputy deputy deputy dep dep- uty governor and disappointed at not being chosen governor he resolved to leave the colony and go to Connecticut As one of the prominent settlers of Windsor he was placed at the head of a commission com corn mission to make laws for the well ordering of that town In March 1636 when Hartford Windsor and Wethersfield were set apart as a colony he was made head of the provisional government government gov gov- to s serve for a year I Ilie lie He presided at the first court of magistrates which convened in Hartford in March 1636 and Inthe in inthe inthe the same year was elected deputy deputy deputy dep dep- uty governor and was re-elected re several times Upon the reorganization reorganization reorganization of the government in May 1637 he was chosen a magIstrate magIstrate mag mag- istrate and in 1638 1633 was regularly regular ly elected as governor By the beginning of 1639 it was generally recognized that Connecticut was definitely out from under the control of Massachusetts Mas and on her own So the colonists began thinking of ot organizing a more permanent form of government The result was the drafting of the Funda Adoption of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut January 14 1639 From 1639 From the mural painting by Albert Herter in the Connecticut Supreme court Hartford Hartford Hart lIart ford The figure seated at the desk Is supposed to be Roger Ludlow the speaker facing forward forward for for- ward is Reverend Thomas Hooker Hook hook- er and the one standing facing Hooker and holding his bis hat Is John Haynes who was chosen first governor of Connecticut under Un un tin der the Orders 4 mental Orders which was adopted adopt adopt- ed at the historic meeting in Hartford on January 14 of that year It has been customary to ascribe ascribe as cribe the general character and content of the Orders to Reverend Rever end Thomas Hooker of Hartford who preached before the General Court on May 31 1638 a memorable mem memo sermon on the text Deuteronomy Deuteronomy Deuteronomy Deu Deu- which is presumed presumed pre pre- to have presaged the Orders Orders Or Or- ders says George M. M Dutcher in the introduction to a pamphlet on The Fundamental Orders of ol Connecticut published for the Connecticut Tercentenary commission com corn mission by the Yale University Press in 1934 The legal phrasing phrasing ing of the Orders on the other hand indicates the work of one tr trained ined not in divinity but in law So far as is known the known the one individual individual in at that time resident in inthe inthe inthe the three Connecticut river towns who possessed such training was Roger Ludlow of Windsor to whom It may be presumed that the actual authorship of the Orders Orders Or Or- ders should be credited To what extent Hooker and Ludlow may have conferred and operated co-operated and what contribution if any was made from other sources can only be pure surmise Since the settlers of Connecticut cut called upon Roger Ludlow to write their constitution for them it would have been only just that they f should hould have elected him the first governor to rule the colony under it But they They pas pas' 1 V L i by and elected John JohnH H He evil genius to t oe e h. h own words Disappointed Again Bitterly disappointed over this Ludlow accompanied by several of his friends and their families moved to which was renamed renamed renamed re re- re- re named Fairfield Then as a crowning indignity he was forced to apologize to the assembly for tor undue haste in taking up lands there I In 1646 the assembly requested him to frame a body of laws for I Connecticut and by adding 14 articles from the Massachusetts Body of Liberties to 63 that were new he produced what is still known as Ludlow Code I and what has given him the title of Father ather of Connecticut Juris prudence In 1648 1651 and 1653 Ludlow was a commissioner to the congress or council of the United Colonies and held various other offices of responsibility and trust However his Impetuous nature repeatedly led him into trouble with the authorities and finally declaring that he would no longer live in Connecticut he sold out his interests and sailed with his family to visit his brother in Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia A short time later he removed removed re reo re- re moved to Ireland where Oliver Cromwell entrusted to him the administration of justice and the determining of to forfeited forfeit forfeit- ed lands in the county of ot Cork Ills His career came to an end sometime sometime some some- time before 1663 the 1668 the exact date of his death being unknown Although the phrasing of the Orders indicates that it was the work of a man trained in inthe inthe inthe the law as Roger Ludlow was the preamble was probably the work of Reverend Thomas Hook Hook- er Cr It said Forasmuch as it hath bath pleased the God by the wise disposition of his divine providence provi dence so to Order and dispose of ot things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor Hartford Hart lIart- ford and Wethersfield are now V Cohabiting and dwelling duelling In and the this River RI of and the Lands thereunto adjoining adjoin ing And well knowing where a people are gathered the word of god requires that to the peace and Union of such a people there should be bean bean bean an Orderly and antI decent Government Government Govern Govern- ment established according to God to Order and dispose of the of the people at all seaSons seasons sea sea- sons as occasion shall shan require Doe therefore associate and con con- joine ourselves to be as one Pub Pub- like State or Comon Cornea and doe for ourselves and our Successors Sue Suc and such sueh as shall be adjoined ad joined to us at any time hereafter hereafter hereafter here here- after enter into Combination and Confederation together to mayn mayn- and preserve the liberty and purity of the of our lord Jesus which we now profess profess pro pro- fess tess as also the discipline of ot the Churches which according to the truth of the said Is now practiced amongst us As also In our Civil affaires to be guided and governed according to such lawes Rules Orders and decrees as shall be made Ordered and decreed as th rollo C S S Not only was the worlds world's first written constitution produced in Connecticut by a lawyer but the Nutmeg state also claims the distinction of having had the first law school in America A few years ago a house on South street in Litchfield Conn and a little I building adjacent to it were established established es es- es as a permanent memorial memorial memorial memo memo- rial to Judge Tapping Reeve the founder of the school and Judge James Gould who later helped to conduct it Tapping Reeve a graduate of ot the College of New Jersey Princeton in the class of 1763 settled in Litchfield in 1772 began began be be- gan the practice and teaching of law and built a home Judge Reeve conducted the law school schoolS S I 4 L JOHN JOliN HAYNES First governor of Connecticut under the Orders not in his own home but in a small building which he had placed in his front yard to the left of the entrance gate and the house itself He lie used this building building build build- ing lag as his law office because even before he formally established established established the school so many students students stu stu- dents came to read law with him that it was more convenient to have a separate building In 1784 when the law Jaw school was founded it was this building that housed the first classes In 1798 Mr Reeve then a judge was joined by James Gould a graduate of Yale in the class of 1791 and they conducted the school together until 1820 when Judge Reeve retired One of Judge Reeves Reeve's earliest pupils was his law in Aaron Burr Durr John C. C Calhoun was one of five future cabinet members who received their le legal legal legal le- le gal education at Litchfield Many senators members of congress galore and judges by the dozen dozen dozen doz doz- en also were trained there In addition there w were ware re some who later made their reputations outside outside out out- side the law among them the educator Horace Mann The Litchfield law school is said to have played an Imp important important or I tant part in the Interpretation of I Ilaw law in the young republic until the school passed out of existence existence exist exist- ence when the establishment of law schools in connection with the colleges made private institutions no longer necessary The original law school build building ing log has undergone many vicissitudes tudes since it was first established established as such in 1784 It continued continued con con- to be used for classes until until un un- un til the school was closed in 1833 In 1846 1840 it was moved bodily through the streets of Litchfield from South street to West Hill to be used as the resident of Henry Henry Hen Hen- ry Ward a printer and poet Forty years later new owners made such large additions that the original structure became a al almost al most unrecognizable In 1906 1900 however a descendant of a graduate graduate grad grad- of the school restored it to its original state and in 1911 it was taken over by the Litchfield Historical and Antiquarian soci sod ety |
