Connecticut
Governance
The
beginnings of Connecticut's representative form of government
reach back to the great social revolution which shook England
in the first half of the seventeenth century.
During
the reign of Charles I (1625-1642), English Puritans were being
persecuted for their religious beliefs and many fled to America.
Between 1630 and 1640, twenty thousand Englishmen migrated to
Massachusetts.
Thomas
Hooker, one of these migrants, came to Boston from England, where
he had fled to escape arrest for his preaching. Hooker was elected
pastor of the church in Cambridge where his democratic views on
government were not in accord with those of the Massachusetts
authorities, who held that the right to vote should be restricted
to church members.
Fundamental
Orders of 1639
In
the spring of 1636 Hooker led a party of about a hundred members
of his Cambridge congregation to the Connecticut Valley. They
settled on the Connecticut River at a place that was to be called
Hartford. Here, in 1638, Hooker preached a sermon which laid the
foundation of representative government in Connecticut.
The
principles laid down by Hooker affirmed that:
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The choice
of the public magistrates belongs unto the people by God's
own allowance.
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The privilege
of election must be exercised according to the blessed will
and law of God.
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Those
who have the power to appoint officers and magistrates have
also power to set the bounds and limitations of the power
and place unto which they call them.
In
January 1639 the leaders of three river towns, Hartford, Wethersfield,
and Windsor, met at Hartford to form a commonwealth and adopt
a form of government based upon the principles laid down in Hooker's
sermon. The "Fundamental Orders," as they were called, were drawn
up, providing a form of government for the commonwealth.
The
Orders were submitted to a mass meeting of the people of the three
towns and adopted by them. They provided:
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The right
of suffrage be extended to all free men who should take the
oath of fidelity.
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The executive
and judicial powers be vested in the governor and his six
assistants, and mat these officers be elected annually
in a General Assembly of all the free men of the colony.
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The legislative
should consist of the governor, his assistants, and the representatives,
or deputies, from the towns. Each of the original towns was
to send four deputies. The number of deputies from towns that
were to be added later was to be decided by the Court.
Charter of
1662
As
the Fundamental Orders had no royal authority, it was necessary
to obtain a charter from the King of England authorizing the establishment
of the Connecticut colony and its form of government. New England
was claimed by the King of England, Charles II as the property
of the crown, and all the rights of colonies had to be obtained
from him as a royal grant. The General Assembly (then called General
Court) sent John Winthrop, Jr., to England to obtain a charter
for the colony.
Winthrop
returned to Hartford with the first charter ever granted to a
colony by an English king.
The Constitution
of 1818
Connecticut
did not adopt a constitution, as the other colonies did, following
the Revolution when it became an independent state, but continued
to be governed by the Charter of 1662. As a growing demand for
a constitution, authorized by the people, became insistent, a
constitutional convention was called for and held in 1818. This
constitution was submitted to popular vote, and adopted by a small
majority. The Constitution begins with a declaration of rights
and provides that the govern-be divided into three distinct departments-legislative,
executive, and judicial- and defines the powers and duties of
each. The Constitution of 1818, with its amendments, continued
in effect until 1965.
[In
1902 a constitutional convention was called to revise the Constitution,
but only a few unimportant changes were made, and the revision
was overwhelmingly rejected when submitted to the people for ratification.
Again in 1953 a revision to the Constitution was attempted, incorporating
forty-seven minor amendments. These amendments were adopted by
the several towns of the state and made effective January 1, 1955.]
The Constitution
of 1965
In
1964 action was instituted in the United States District Court
for the District of Connecticut to compel the reapportionment
of Connecticut's General Assembly in conformance with the United
States Supreme Court decision on "one man, one vote." The General
Assembly, in a special session, called a Constitutional Convention
to convene in Hartford on July 1, 1965.
While
the primary task of the Convention was to make constitutional
provision the reapportionment of the General Assembly, it appeared
from the beginning to the sense of the Convention that it should
deal not only with reapportionment but preview the entire Constitution
of 1818. On October 20, 1965, the final draft proposed by the
Committee on Rules was unanimously adopted by the Convention and
on December 14, 1965, the electors meeting in the several cities
and towns approved the new Constitution, by a vote of 178,432
to 84,129.
The
1965 Constitution for the first time provided that constitutional
amendments can be introduced in either house of the General Assembly
and if approved by a three-fourths majority, go to the voters
without being approved by a successive General assembly.
The
Governor's veto was strengthened by a two-thirds vote of both
houses being required to override. A "trailer" special session
is provided to consider bills vetoed following the close of the
legislative session.
The
1965 Constitution also provided for the first time a House of
Representatives with Assembly districts of approximately equal
population to conform to the U.S. Supreme Court "one man, one
vote" principle.
The
Constitution further provided for mandatory redistricting every
ten years following the Federal census.
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