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In the last decades of the 19th century, Connecticut was transformed by a massive flood of immigrants fleeing the political and economic instability of Europe in search of a better life in America. In 1870, fewer than 100 Italians lived in Connecticut; fifty years later there were over 80,000. By 1900, 23% of Connecticut's residents had been born abroad and another 27% were first- generation Americans.

Immigrants satisfied Connecticut industry's relentless appetite for workers, but Connecticut's cities strained to accommodate them and the state's Yankee population refused to accept them.

By the turn of the century, the town-based system of representation that assured one-party control of the House of Representatives and the 19-month interval between sessions made the legislative process increasingly sluggish and unresponsive to the challenges of a swiftly changing society.

In 1891, Connecticut's political process completely ground to a halt when the General Assembly could not agree on who won the gubernatorial election of 1890. The parties wrangled for an entire year, no bills or appropriations were passed, and the incumbent governor, Morgan Bulkeley, paid the entire expenses of the state from the budget of the Aetna Insurance Company where he served as president.

Appalled reformers intensified their calls for an end to the ancient system of town-based representation. Finally, in 1902 delegates met to prepare a new state constitution for the voters.