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THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF 1639
January 14, 1639
For as much as it hath pleased 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 Connectecotte and the
lands thereunto adjoining; and 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 Common-
wealth; 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 accordinbg to such Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees
as shall be made, ordered, and decreed as followeth:
1. 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
the 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.
2. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the election of
the aforesaid Magistrates shall be in this manner: every
person present and qualified for choice shall bring in (to
the person deputed to receive them) one single paper with the
name of him written in it whom he desires to have Governor,
and that 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 nomin-
ated 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 every one that hath more written papers than
blanks shall be a Magistrate for that year; which papers
shall be received and told by one or more that shall be then
chosen by the court and sworn to be faithful therein; but in
case there should not be six chosen as aforesaid, besides the
Governor, out of those which are nominated, than he or they
which have the most writen papers shall be a Magistrate or
Magistrates for the ensuing year, to make up the aforesaid
number.
3. 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 afore-
said 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.
4. 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
that all the Magistrates, Freemen of this Commonwealth; and
that no Magistrate or other public officer shall execute any
part of his or their office before they are severally sworn,
which shall be done in the face of the court if they be
present, and in case of absence by some deputed for that
purpose.
5. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that to the aforesaid
Court of Election the several Towns shall send their depu-
ties, and when the Elections are ended they may proceed in
any public service as at other Courts. Also the other
General Court in September shall be for making of laws, and
any other public occasion, which concerns the good of the
Commonwealth.
6. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Governor
shall, either by himself or by the Secretary, send out
summons to the Constables of every Town for the calling of
these two standing Courts one month at least before their
several times: And also if the Governor and the greatest part
of the Magistrates see cause upon any special occasion to
call a General Court, they may give order to the Secretary so
to do within fourteen days' warning: And if urgent necessity
so required, upon a shorter notice, giving sufficient grounds
for it to the deputies when they meet, or else be questioned
for the same; And if the Governor and major part of Magistr-
ates shall either neglect or refuse to call the two General
standing Courts or either of them, as also at other times
when the occasions of the Commonwealth require, the Freemen
thereof, or the major part of them, shall petition to them so
to do; if then it be either denied or neglected, the said
Freemen, or the major part of them, shall have the power to
give order to the Constables of the several Towns to do the
same, and so may meet together, and choose to themselves a
Moderator, and may proceed to do any act of power which any
other General Courts may.
7. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that after there are
warrants given out for any of the said General Courts, the
Constable or Constables of each Town, shall forthwith give
notice distinctly to the inhabitants of the same, in some
public assembly or by going or sending from house to house,
that at a place and time by him or them limited and set, they
meet and assemble themselves together to elect and choose
certain deputies to be at the General Court then following to
agitate the affairs of the Commonwealth; which said deputies
shall be chosen by all that are admitted Inhabitants in the
several Towns and have taken the oath of fidelity; provided
that none be chosen a Deputy for any General Court which is
not a Freeman of this Commonwealth.
The aforesaid deputies shall be chosen in manner following: every
person that is present and qualified as before expressed, shall bring
the names of such, written in several papers, as they desire to have
chosen for that employment, and these three or four, more or less,
being the number agreed on to be chosen for that time, that have the
greatest number of papers written for them shall be deputies for that
Court; whose names shall be endorsed on the back side of the warrant
and returned into the Court, with the Constable or Constables' hand
unto the same.
8. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that Windsor, Hart-
ford, and Wethersfield shall have power, each Town, to send
four of their Freemen as their deputies to every General
Court; and Whatsoever other Town shall be hereafter added to
this Jurisdiction, they shall send so many deputies as the
Court shall judge meet, a reasonable proportion to the number
of Freemen that are in the said Towns being to be attended
therein; which deputies shall have the power of the whole
Town to give their votes and allowance to all such laws and
orders as may be for the public good, and unto which the said
Towns are to be bound.
9. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the deputies thus
chosen shall have power and liberty to appoint a time and a
place of meeting together before any General Court, to advise
and consult of all such things as may concern the good of the
public, as also to examine their own Elections, whether
according to the order, and if they or the greatest part of
them find any election to be illegal they may seclude such
for present from their meeting, and return the same and their
reasons to the Court; and if it be proved true, the Court may
fine the party or parties so intruding, and the Town, if they
see cause, and give out a warrant to go to a new election in
a legal way, either in part or in whole. Also the said
deputies shall have power to fine any that shall be disorder-
ly at their meetings, or for not coming in due time or place
according to appointment; and they may return the said fines
into the Court if it be refused to be paid, and the Treasurer
to take notice of it, and to escheat or levy the same as he
does other fines.
10. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that every General
Court, except such as through neglect of the Governor and the
greatest part of the Magistrates the Freemen themselves do
call, shall consist of the Governor, or some one chosen to
moderate the Court, and four other Magistrates at least, with
the major part of the deputies of the several Towns legally
chosen; and in case the Freemen, or major part of them,
through neglect or refusal of the Governor and major part of
the Magistrates, shall call a Court, it shall consist of the
major part of Freemen that are present or their deputiues,
with a Moderator chosen by them: In which said General
Courts shall consist the supreme power of the Commonwealth,
and they only shall have power to make laws or repeal them,
to grant levies, to admit of Freemen, dispose of lands
undisposed of, to several Towns or persons, and also shall
have power to call either Court or Magistrate or any other
person whatsoever into question for any misdemeanor, and may
for just causes displace or deal otherwise according to the
nature of the offense; and also may deal in any other matter
that concerns the good of this Commonwealth, except election
of Magistrates, which shall be done by the whole body of
Freemen.
In which Court the Governor or Moderator shall have power to order the
Court, to give liberty of speech, and silence unseasonable and disor-
derly speakings, to put all things to vote, and in case the vote be
equal to have the casting voice. But none of these Courts shall be
adjourned or dissolved without the consent of the major part of the
Court.
11. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that when any General
Court upon the occasions of the Commonwealth have agreed upon
any sum, or sums of money to be levied upon the several Towns
within this Jurisdiction, that a committee be chosen to set
out and appoint what shall be the proportion of every Town to
pay of the said levy, provided the committee be made up of an
equal number out of each Town.
14th January 1639 the 11 Orders above said are voted.
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The Fundamental Orders OF 1639 are often credited as being the first
written Constitution in the new world. However, see also the Iroquois
Constitution and the Mayflower Compact of earlier times.
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Prepared by Gerald Murphy (The Cleveland Free-Net - aa300)