Page "Thomas Hooker" Paragraph 1

Called today “ the Father of Connecticut ,” Thomas Hooker was a towering figure in the early development of colonial New England.

He was one of the great preachers of his time, an erudite writer on Christian subjects, the first minister of Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the first settlers and founders of both the city of Hartford and the state of Connecticut, and cited by many as the inspiration for the " Fundamental Orders of Connecticut ," cited by some as the world's first written democratic constitution that established a representative government .< ref > Following the Rev.

Hooker ’ s sermon in which he declared, “ The foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people ,” the Fundamental Orders were adopted by the colony of Connecticut on January 14, 1639 ( by New Style reckoning ).

While some modern historians dispute the claim that this was the first constitution in the western democratic tradition, neither the Mayflower Compact nor the Narragansett communities agreements established any forms of government.

Furthermore, former Connecticut Chief Justice Simeon E. Baldwin upheld the claim in Norris Osborn ’ s History of Connecticut in Monographic Form, declaring that “ never had a company of men deliberately met to frame a social compact for immediate use, constituting a new and independent commonwealth, with definite officers, executive and legislative, and prescribed rules and modes of government, until the first planters of Connecticut came together for their great work on January 14th, 1638-9 .” Drafted primarily by Roger Ludlow, it was clearly the first compact between a government and the people to uphold the Rev.

Hooker ’ s proclamation that the foundation of constitutional authority was with the people.

Ref: Osborn, Norris Galpin, Editor, History of Connecticut in Monographic Form ( States History Co., 1925 ); Hooker, John, An Account of the Reunion of the Descendants of Rev.

Thomas Hooker ( The Salem Press, 1890 ), p. 27 ; Logan, Walter Seth, Thomas Hooker, the First American Democrat ( The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, 1904 ), p. 19 ; Lutz, Donald S., Stephen L. Schechter & Richard B. Bernstein, Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpeted, p. 24 ; CT. gov, The Official State of Connecticut Website < ww. ct. gov / ctportal / cwp / view. asp? a = 246434 >; Connecticut, History of the USA www. usahistory. info / New-England / Connecticut. html .</ ref >