Founding of Connecticut Colony

Founding of Connecticut Colony The founding of the Connecticut colony began in 1636 when the Dutch established the first trading post on the Connecticut River valley in what is now the town of Hartford. The move into the valley was part of a general movement out of the Massachusetts colony. By the 1630s, the population in and around Boston had grown so dense that settlers began to spread out throughout southern New England, concentrating their settlements along navigable river valleys such as those in Connecticut. Founding Fathers The man credited as the founder of Connecticut was Thomas Hooker, an English yeoman and clergyman born in 1586, at Marfield in Leicester, England. He was educated at Cambridge, where he received a Bachelors in 1608 and a Masters in 1611. He was one of the most learned and powerful preachers of both old and New England and was the minister of Esher, Surrey, between 1620–1625. He was the lecturer at St. Marys Church at Chelmsford in Essex from 1625–1629. Hooker was also a nonconformist Puritan, who was targeted for suppression by the English government under Charles I and was forced to retire from Chelmsford in 1629. He fled to Holland, where other exiles had sought refuge. The First Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, wrote to Hooker as early as 1628 or 1629, asking him to come to Massachusetts. In 1633, Hooker sailed for North America. By October, he was made pastor at Newtown (now Cambridge) on the Charles River in the Massachusetts colony. By May of 1634, Hooker and his congregation at Newtown petitioned to leave for Connecticut. In May 1636, they were allowed to go, and they were provided a commission by the General Court of Massachusetts. Hooker, his wife, and his congregation left Boston and drove 160 cattle southward, founding the river towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield. By 1637, there were almost 800 people in the new colony of Connecticut. New Governance in Connecticut The new Connecticut colonists used Massachusetts civil and ecclesiastical law to set up their initial government. Most people who came to the American colonies came as indentured servants or commons. According to English law, it was only after a man had paid or worked off his contract that he could apply to become a member of the church and own lands. Freemen were men who had all the civil and political rights under a free government, including the right to vote. In Connecticut, whether a man was indentured or not, if he entered the colony as a free person, he had to wait over a one- to two-year probationary period, during which he was closely observed to make sure he was an upright Puritan. If he passed the test, he could be accepted as a freeman. If not, he could be forced to leave the colony. Such a man could be an admitted inhabitant but was only able to vote after the General Court accepted him to freemanship. Only 229 men were admitted as freemen in Connecticut between 1639 and 1662. Towns in Connecticut By 1669, there were 21 towns on the Connecticut River. The four main communities were Hartford (established 1651), Windsor, Wethersfield, and Farmington. Together they had a total population of 2,163, including 541 adult males. Only 343 were freemen. That year, the New Haven colony was brought under the Connecticut colonys governance. Other early towns included Lyme, Saybrook, Haddam, Middletown, Killingworth, New London, Stonington, Norwich, Stratford, Fairfield, and Norwalk. Significant Events From 1636 to 1637, the Pequot War was fought between the settlers in Connecticut and the Pequot Indians. By the end of the war, the Pequot Indians were decimated.The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were created in 1639. Many believe that this written Constitution would become the basis for the later United States Constitution.The Colony Charter was accepted in 1662.King Philips (the Wampanoag leader Metacomet) War, in 1675, was the result of increasing tensions between Native Americans and Europeans in southern New England.The Connecticut colony signed the Declaration of Independence in October 1776.