The Fundamental Orders Of Connecticut

Introduction: What the Fundamental Orders Are

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut are a set of written laws adopted in 1639 by settlers of the Connecticut River towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield. The document established a formal framework for civil government among communities that were operating without a royal charter or direct authorization from the English Crown.

Unlike earlier agreements that focused primarily on unity or mutual cooperation, the Fundamental Orders outlined a functioning system of governance. They defined political offices, election procedures, and the authority of a general court responsible for legislative and administrative matters. The document was practical in nature, written to address the immediate needs of an established community rather than to advance a philosophical theory of government.

The importance of the Fundamental Orders lies in their purpose: they were created to provide legitimacy, order, and continuity to a government formed by the inhabitants themselves, at a time when no external authority was present to do so.

What the Fundamental Orders Accomplished (Factual, Limited Claims)

Based on the surviving text and historical record, the Fundamental Orders accomplished the following:

Established a written structure for civil government
Defined offices and procedures for selecting leadership
Created a General Court with legislative and administrative authority
Provided for regular elections of governing officials
Grounded political authority in the consent of the governed

They did not:

Declare independence from England
Establish a modern democratic republic
Provide universal political participation
Assert individual rights in the modern sense

Those developments occurred later and should not be retroactively applied to this document.

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut — Full Text (1639)

Forasmuch as it hath pleased the 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 Connecticut; and the 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:

I.

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 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.

II.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Election of the aforesaid Magistrates shall be on this manner: every person present and qualified for choice shall bring in (to the persons deputed to receive them) one single paper with the name of him written in it whom he desires to have Governor, and 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 he that hath more written papers than blanks shall be Magistrate for that year.

III.

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.

IV.

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 all the Magistrates Freemen of this Commonwealth.

V.

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 any other Courts.

VI.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that to every General Court there shall be four Deputies sent from each town; and if any town neglect to send so many, the Court shall have power to fine such town.

VII.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Governor shall have power to call together the Magistrates and Deputies upon any emergency to advise and determine so far as the nature of the business shall require; and that the Governor shall have a casting voice in the Court.

VIII.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Governor shall have power to administer oaths and to convene the General Court upon special occasions; and that all officers shall be sworn to the faithful execution of their offices.

IX.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the General Court shall have power to admit Freemen, to dispose of lands, to make laws, and to do all things that concern the good of the Commonwealth; and that all laws shall be made by the consent of the freemen or their Deputies.

X.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that all public officers shall be sworn to faithful execution of their trusts, and all freemen shall take the Oath of Fidelity.

XI.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that if any General Court be adjourned, the Governor or in his absence the Deputy Governor shall have power to adjourn the Court, provided it be not adjourned without the consent of the greater part of the Court.

XII.

It is ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the General Court shall have power to punish offenders, to redress grievances, and to execute all laws and orders made by the same Court.

This was ordered at the General Court held at Hartford, the 14th day of January, 1639.

Notes on the Text

The original manuscript of the Fundamental Orders has not survived in its original form.
The text is preserved through later colonial records and transcriptions.
Variations in spelling, punctuation, and formatting exist among different historical versions.
These limitations are inherent to early colonial documents and should be acknowledged when reading the text.

Research & Source Transparency Notice

This article presents a public-domain historical document along with original explanatory context. Early colonial records are sometimes incomplete, contradictory, or preserved only through later transcription. Readers are encouraged to consult additional materials and interpretations — including those that may differ — in pursuit of a fuller understanding of the historical record.