Lincoln Blogs

Thomas Hooker was a prominent Puritan and Colonial leader who is well known for his role in founding Connecticut and creating the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut in the 1600s. He was a very pious man with strong character, and was once called “The Light of the Western Churches and the Pillar of Connecticut Colony.” An independent thinker, he became a Puritan and devoted himself to God. His influence on the American colonies was great; in 1636 he and his congregation formed the Hartford colony in the Connecticut area. Later, Hartford and two other colonies merged to form Connecticut. Hooker was also significant in the future of the United States, as he assisted in creating the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is considered to be the first written Constitution in the Western tradition, and many of its ideas are seen in the American Constitution. Perhaps the most important point in the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is the first, which lays out the method for electing the officials of the Colony, and the duties of these officials.

The first [of two yearly assemblies] 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, 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.

This section is important because it describes a means of electing official that is still used today in America. Its ideas were used in the United States Constitution over one hundred years later. The concept of democracy is one of the things that makes America great, and it is and was very important in the colony of Connecticut, and the United States of America. This section in the Fundamental Orders also speaks of “the Rule of the Word of God,” which shows that the very earliest founders of the United States believed the Bible, and used it as their basis for all of their actions.