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THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF 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 Resident 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
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:
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 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 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 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.
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 deputies, 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 Magistrates 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, Hartford,
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 disorderly at their meetings, or for not
coming in due time or place according to appointment; and they may
return the aid 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 othe 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 ither 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 disorderly 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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