Connecticut Colony

Colony of Connecticut
Colony of England (1636–1707)
Colony of Great Britain (1707–76)
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Capital Hartford (1636–1776)
New Haven (joint capital with Hartford, 1701–76)
Languages English, Mohegan-Pequot, Quiripi
Government Constitutional monarchy
Legislature General Court of the Colony of Connecticut
History
 •  Established 1636
 •  Independence 1776
Currency Pound sterling
Today part of  United States
A map of the Connecticut, New Haven, and Saybrook colonies

The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in North America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settlement for a Puritan congregation. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English had permanently gained control of the colony later in the year of 1636. The colony was later the scene of a bloody and raging war between the English and Native Americans, known as the Pequot War. It played a significant role in the establishment of self-government in the New World with its refusal to surrender local authority to the Dominion of New England, an event known as the Charter Oak incident which occurred at Jeremy Adams' inn & tavern.

Two other English colonies in the present-day state of Connecticut were merged into the Colony of Connecticut: Saybrook Colony in 1644 and New Haven Colony in 1662.

Leaders

Thomas Hooker, a prominent Puritan minister, and Governor John Haynes of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who led 100 people to present day Hartford in 1636, are often considered the founders of the Connecticut colony. The sermon Hooker delivered to his congregation on the principles of government on May 31, 1638 influenced those who would write the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut later that year. The Fundamental Orders may have been drafted by Roger Ludlow of Windsor, the only trained lawyer living in Connecticut in the 1630s, and were transcribed into the official record by the secretary, Thomas Welles.

The Rev. John Davenport and merchant Theophilus Eaton led the founders of the New Haven Colony, which would be absorbed into Connecticut Colony in the 1660s.

In the colony's early years, the governor could not serve consecutive terms. Thus, for twenty years, the governorship often rotated between John Haynes and Edward Hopkins, both of whom were from Hartford. George Wyllys, Thomas Welles, and John Webster, also Hartford men, sat in the governor's chair for brief periods in the 1640s and 1650s.

John Winthrop the Younger of New London, the son of the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, played an important role in consolidating separate settlements on the Connecticut River into a single colony; and he served as Governor of Connecticut from 1659 to 1675. Winthrop was also instrumental in obtaining the colony's 1662 charter, which incorporated New Haven into Connecticut. His son, Fitz-John Winthrop, would also govern the colony for ten years, starting in 1698.

Major John Mason was the military leader of the early colony, the commander in the Pequot War, a magistrate, founder of Windsor, Saybrook and Norwich, and Deputy Governor under Winthrop.

Roger Ludlow was an Oxford-educated lawyer and former Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who petitioned the General Court for rights to settle the area. Ludlow led the March Commission in settling disputes over land rights. He is credited as drafting the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1650) in collaboration with Hooker, Winthrop, and others. Ludlow was the first Deputy Governor of Connecticut.

William Leete of Guilford served as governor of New Haven Colony before that colony's merger into Connecticut, and as governor of Connecticut following John Winthrop, Jr's death in 1675. He is the only man to serve as governor of both New Haven and Connecticut.

Robert Treat of Milford served as governor of the colony both prior to and after its inclusion in Sir Edmund Andros's Dominion of New England. His father, Richard Treat, was one of the original patentees of the colony.

Religion

Colonists of Colonial Connecticut held religion in high regards. "The ways people construct their social and moral universes depend on many things: the traditions and languages they inherit for speaking about the world; those that they encounter from elsewhere in the course of their lifetimes and that get incorporated into or replace older traditions; leaders who dramatize and give new shapes to the common-sense understandings underlying their lives like bedrock."[1] Because the first people to set foot on Colonial British America's soil were Puritan ministers and planters, the ministers were the leaders to shape colonists ideas and beliefs of their new world. Upon settlement of the colony, there was an idea of a 'rediscovery of religion.'[2] This rediscovery took root in colonists lives and led to the notion of refinement.

The most pious and most stern of the colonists felt an attraction to refinement, its grace and beauty, and fought to have refinement and religion cohabitate. "The Christian lady and the Christian gentleman were meant to embody the finest of both cultures. Although reconciliations were made, religious leaders, as a group, were as ambivalent about refinement as people in every other cultural realm."[3] This took root in the mother country where Europeans struggled with refinement, sophistication, and happiness.[4] It was known that women were always tempted by evil and the Devil, it fell upon men to strictly lead and keep the religious values in the colony. This is ironic since all Puritans brought with them the belief in magic and witchcraft. "Such activity was illegal in most colonies and was usually kept from full public view."[5] The new world demanded colonist's perfection and ultimately it was their responsibility to raise the ideal colonist for future generations.

The Puritan church of colonial Connecticut was full of overzealous clergy. "Clergy were hired and fired at the local level by community members who also voted on local clerical taxes. The market model thus predicts relatively strong church membership. Archival data shows that the number of new Puritan congregation members as a share of population remained relatively constant over time. The number of new members of individual established congregations remained constant."[6] In Connecticut, the individual church controlled the local clerical office.[7] Local congregations were small, had a minister, and held similar interests. The product from these characteristics was a unified, religious oriented group. "The Puritans envisioned their arrival in America as a continuation of a scriptural narrative."[8]

Men had a say in the public sector but women had some influence within the church. It is true, "they entered the church by a separate door from men and, throughout most of the seventeenth century, until family pews became the norm, sat segregated from their husbands, fathers, and brothers."[9] Women were not allowed to be part of the clergy and had no say in picking those who were to serve as minister. "Yet they could pursue, attain, and have acknowledged the presence of God's grace within them, and thus enter the privileged ranks of full membership in the church."[10] Increasing amounts of women attended church while their influence increased as well. Frontier women began demanding more churches within walking distance, especially if they were pregnant.[10] This sparked woman's voice in the church and their responsibility for the community. "The rising number of women in the church worked a subtle but significant change in the values extolled by its clergy. Increasingly, character traits associated with women were transposed as Christian traits, and worldly handicaps became spiritual strengths, for meekness and submissiveness readied the should for grace."[10] Allowing women to be heard left room for their influence but led women to be in a position that held them accountable for each action they took. Women were finding their voice within the church and that voice held influence within the community.

Economic and social history

The economy began with subsistence farming in the 17th century, and developed with greater diversity and an increased focus on production for distant markets, especially the British colonies in the Caribbean. The American Revolution cut off imports from Britain, and stimulated a manufacturing sector that made heavy use of the entrepreneurship and mechanical skills of the people. In the second half of the 18th century, difficulties arose from the shortage of good farmland, periodic money problems, and downward price pressures in the export market. In agriculture there was a shift from grain to animal products.[11] The colonial government from time to time attempted to promote various commodities such as hemp, potash, and lumber as export items to bolster its economy and improve its balance of trade with Great Britain.[12]

Connecticut's domestic architecture included a wide variety of house forms. They generally reflected the dominant English heritage and architectural tradition.[13]

See also

Further reading

Specialized studies

Historiography

References

Bibliography

  • Berkin, Carol (1996). First Generations: Women in Colonial America. New York, NY: Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0-8090-1606-8. 
  • Bushman, Richard L. (1993). The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities. New York, NY: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-679-74414-6. 
  • Butler, Jon (1990). Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People. London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-67405-601-5. 
  • Daniels, Bruce C. (1980). "Economic development in colonial and revolutionary Connecticut: an overview". William and Mary Quarterly 37 (3): 429–450. JSTOR 1923811. 
  • Green, Jack P.; Pole, J. R. (1984). Colonial British America: Essays in the New History of the Early Modern Era. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801830556. 
  • Hull, Brooks B.; Moran, Gerald F. (1999). "The churching of colonial Connecticut: a case study". Review of Religious Research 41 (2): 165–183. JSTOR 3512105. 
  • Lipman, Andrew (2008). ""A meanes to knitt them togeather": the exchange of body parts in the Pequot War". William and Mary Quarterly. third series 65 (1): 3–28. JSTOR 25096768. 
  • Nutting, P. Bradley (2000). "Colonial Connecticut's search for a staple: a mercantile paradox". New England Journal of History 57 (1): 58–69. 
  • Smith, Ann Y. (2007). "A new look at the early domestic architecture of Connecticut". Connecticut History 46 (1): 16–44. 
  • Williams, Peter W., ed. (1999). Perspectives on American Religion and Culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5771-8117-0. 

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Coordinates: 41°43′05″N 72°45′05″W / 41.71803°N 72.75146°W / 41.71803; -72.75146

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