Democracy In The Fundamental Orders Of Connecticut

Democracy is a form of government in which power lies with the people. This means that the people of the said community can either rule directly or indirectly by electing officials to make decisions for the betterment of the people. Democracy is an aspect that can be included in many different governments including, republics, monarchies, and theocracies. In America today, democracy is something we take pride in. This form of government had to start somewhere, however, and ideas of democracy can be shown in many early documents written by some of the first peoples to colonize the Americas. When colonists from Europe began colonizing the Americas, they had to form their own individual forms of government in order to keep the peace. When the

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut act as one of the first written constitutions and was created and adopted by the three towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. Where the Mayflower Compact acted only as a statement in favor of majority rule, The Orders of Connecticut described a detailed plan of government that gave power to the people. The Orders of Connecticut created two Courts, one in which male colonists were able vote on certain decisions including the elections of the colony’s governor and other officials or magistrates, “– 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 –.” The second Court was used in order to form laws as stated in the document, “Also the other General Court in September shall be for making laws, and any other public occasion, which concerns the good of Commonwealth.” Like our Constitution today, the Orders of Connecticut were used in order to make sure that every social class had laws that appealed to them. As many colonists were considered ‘Freemen,’ the idea that, “– all such laws and orders as be for the public good –,” was very important to the success of the

This document set the ground work for religious freedom, as long as your religion included Christian beliefs. At the time, Catholics and Puritans did not get along and it was often the Catholics who suffered because of it. Lord Baltimore and his lineage were put in charge of the Maryland colony and had established the land as a haven for English Catholics. When Leonard Calvert died, however, Puritans seized the colony and arrested many Catholic Officials. In order to restore peace, Lord Baltimore created this document as a way to please the Puritans who happened to also have Christian beliefs. This document, however, do not describe complete religious freedom. In fact, any person who, “ – blaspheme God, that is curse Him, or deny or Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or shall deny the holy Trinity … shalbe punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to the Lord Proprietary and his heires.” Although this document does not completely describe the type of religious freedom that we are given today, it was one of the first written documents to envision the idea of separation of church and