FOUNDING OF CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN
(1637-1652)
The establishment of the new settlements on the Connecticut projected
the whites into the immediate neighborhood of two powerful and warlike
Indian nations--the Narragansetts in Rhode Island and the Pequots in
Connecticut. With the first named there existed friendly relations,
due to the politic conduct of Roger Williams, who always treated the
Indians kindly. With the latter, conditions from the first were very
threatening.
As early as the summer of 1633, Stone, a reckless ship-captain from
Virginia, and eight of his companions, were slain in the Connecticut
River by some Pequots. When called to account by Governor Winthrop of
Massachusetts, the Indians justified themselves on the ground that
Stone was the aggressor. Thereupon Winthrop desisted, and referred the
matter to the Virginia authorities.[1] In 1634, when the settlements
were forming on the Connecticut, a fresh irritation was caused by the
course of the emigrants in negotiating for their lands with the
Mohegan chiefs instead of with the Pequots, the lords paramount of the
soil.
The Pequots were greatly embarrassed at the time by threatened
hostilities with the Narragansetts and the Dutch, and in November,
1634, they became reduced to the necessity of seeking the alliance of
the Massachusetts colony. That authority inopportunely revived the
question of Stone's death and required the Pequots to deliver annually
a heavy tribute of wampum as the price of their forgiveness and
protection.[2] Had the object of the Massachusetts people been to
promote bad feeling, no better method than this could have been
adopted.
In July, 1636, John Oldham, who had been appointed collector of the
tribute from the Pequots, was killed off Block Island by some of the
Indians of the island who were subject to the Narragansett tribe.[3]
Although the Pequots had nothing whatever to do with this affair, the
Massachusetts government, under Harry Vane, sent a force against them,
commanded by John Endicott. After stopping at Block Island and
destroying some Indian houses, he proceeded to the main-land to make
war on the Pequots, but beyond burning some wigwams and seizing some
corn he accomplished very little.
The action of Massachusetts was heartily condemned by the Plymouth
colony and the settlers on the Connecticut, and Gardiner, the
commander of the Saybrook fort, bluntly told Endicott that the
proceedings were outrageous and would serve only to bring the Indians
"like wasps about his ears." His prediction came true, and during the
winter Gardiner and his few men at the mouth of the river were
repeatedly assailed by parties of Indians, who boasted that
"Englishmen were as easy to kill as mosquitoes."[4]
Danger was now imminent, especially to the infant settlements up the
river. For the moment it seemed as if the English had brought upon
themselves the united power of all the Indians of the country. The
Pequots sent messengers to patch up peace with their enemies, the
Narragansetts, and tried to induce them to take up arms against the
English. They would have probably succeeded but for the influence of
Roger Williams with the Narragansett chiefs. In this crisis the
friendship of Governor Vane for the banished champion of religious
liberty was used to good effect. To gratify the governor and his
council at Boston, Williams, at the risk of his life, sought the
wigwams of Canonicus and Miantonomoh, and "broke to pieces the Pequot
negotiations and design."[5] Instead of accepting the overtures of the
Pequots, the Narragansetts sent Miantonomoh and the two sons of
Canonicus to Boston to make an alliance with the whites.[6]
In the spring of 1637 the war burst with fury. Wethersfield was first
attacked at the instance of an Indian who had sold his lands and could
not obtain the promised payment. In revenge he secretly instigated the
Pequots to attack the place, and they killed a woman, a child, and
some men, besides some cattle; and took captive two young women, who
were preserved by the squaw of Mononotto, a Pequot sachem, and,
through the Dutch, finally restored to their friends.[7]
By May, 1637, when the first general court of Connecticut convened at
Hartford, upward of thirty persons had fallen beneath the tomahawk.
The promptest measures were necessary; and without waiting for the
assistance of Massachusetts, whose indiscretion had brought on the
war, ninety men (nearly half the effective force of the colony) were
raised,[8] and placed under the command of Captain John Mason, an
officer who had served in the Netherlands under Sir Thomas Fairfax.
The force sailed down the river in three small vessels, and were
welcomed at Fort Saybrook by Lieutenant Gardiner.
The Indian fort was situated in a swamp to the east of the Connecticut
on the Mystic River; but instead of landing at the Pequot River, as he
had been ordered, Mason completely deceived the Indian spies by
sailing past it away from the intended prey. Near Point Judith,
however, in the Narragansett country, Mason disembarked his men; and,
accompanied by eighty Mohegans and two hundred Narragansetts, turned
on his path and marched by land westward towards the Pequot country.
So secretly and swiftly was this movement executed that the Indian
fort was surrounded and approached within a few feet before the
Indians took alarm.[9]
The victory of Mason was a massacre, the most complete in the annals
of colonial history. The English threw firebrands among the wigwams,
and in the flames men, women, and children were roasted to death.
Captain Underhill, who was present, wrote that "there were about four
hundred souls in this fort, and not above five of them escaped out of
our hands." Only two white men were killed, though a number received
arrow wounds.[10]
Mason, as he went to the Pequot harbor to meet his vessels, met a
party of three hundred Indians half frantic with grief over the
destruction of their countrymen, but contented himself with repelling
their attack. Finally, he reached the ships, where he found Captain
Patrick and forty men come from Massachusetts to reinforce him.
Placing his sick men on board to be taken back by water, Mason crossed
the Pequot River and marched by land to Fort Saybrook, where they were
"nobly entertained by Lieutenant Gardiner with many great guns," and
there they rested the Sabbath. The next week they returned home.[11]
The remnant of the Pequots collected in another fort to the west of
that destroyed by Mason. Attacked by red men and white men alike, most
of them formed the desperate resolve of taking refuge with the Mohawks
across the Hudson. They were pursued by Mason with forty soldiers,
joined by one hundred and twenty from Massachusetts under Captain
Israel Stoughton. A party of three hundred Indians were overtaken and
attacked in a swamp near New Haven, and many were captured or put to
death. Sassacus, the Pequot chief, of whom the Narragansetts had such
a dread as to say of him, "Sassacus is all one God; no man can kill
him," contrived to reach the Mohawks, but they cut off his head and
sent it as a present to the English.[12]
The destruction of the Pequots as a nation was complete. All the
captive men, women, and children were made slaves, some being kept in
New England and others sent to the West Indies,[13] and there remained
at large in Connecticut not over two hundred Pequots. September 21,
1638, a treaty was negotiated between the Connecticut delegates and
the Narragansetts and Mohegans, by the terms of which the Pequot
country became the property of the Connecticut towns, while one
hundred Pequots were given to Uncas, and one hundred to Miantonomoh
and Ninigret, his ally, to be incorporated with their tribes.[14]
So far as the whites of Connecticut were concerned the effect of the
war was to remove all real danger from Indians for a period of forty
years. Not till the Indians became trained in the use of fire-arms
were they again matched against the whites on anything like equal
terms. Among the Indian tribes, the result of the Pequot War was to
elevate Uncas and his Mohegans into a position of rivals of
Miantonomoh, and his Narragansetts, with the result of the overthrow
and death of Miantonomoh. In the subsequent years war broke out
several times, but by the intervention of the federal commissioners,
who bolstered up Uncas, hostilities did not proceed.
On the conclusion of the Pequot War the freemen of the three towns
upon the Connecticut convened at Hartford, January 14, 1639, and
adopted "the Fundamental Orders," a constitution which has been justly
pronounced the first written constitution framed by a community,
through its own representatives, as a basis for government. This
constitution contained no recognition whatever of any superior
authority in England, and provided[15] that the freemen were to hold
two general meetings a year, at one of which they were to elect the
governor and assistants, who, with four deputies from each town, were
to constitute a general court "to make laws or repeal them, to grant
levies, to admit freemen, to dispose of lands undisposed of to several
towns or persons, call the court or magistrate or any other person
whatsoever into question for any misdemeanor, and to deal in any other
matter that concerned the good of the commonwealth, except election of
magistrates," which was "to be done by the whole body of freemen."
Till 1645 the deputies voted with the magistrates, but in that year
the general court was divided into two branches as in Massachusetts.
In one particular the constitution was more liberal than the unwritten
constitution of Massachusetts: church-membership was not required as a
condition of the suffrage, and yet in the administration of the
government the theocracy was all-powerful. The settlers of Connecticut
were Puritans of the strictest sect, and in the preamble of their
constitution they avowed their purpose "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 practised among us." In 1656 the
law of Connecticut required the applicant for the franchise to be of
"a peaceable and honest conversation," and this was very apt to mean a
church-member in practice.
No one but a church-member could be elected governor, and in choosing
assistants the vote was taken upon each assistant in turn, and he had
to be voted out before any nomination could be made.[16] In none of
the colonies was the tenure of office more constant or persevering. In
a period of about twenty years Haynes was governor eight times and
deputy governor five times, Hopkins was governor six times and deputy
governor five times, while John Winthrop, the younger, served eighteen
years in the chief office.
The Connecticut government thus formed rapidly extended its
jurisdiction. Although Springfield was conceded to Massachusetts the
loss was made up by the accession, in 1639, of Fairfield and
Stratford, west of New Haven, and, April, 1644, of Southampton, on
Long Island, and about the same time of Farmington, near Hartford. In
1639 a town had been founded at Fort Saybrook by George Fenwick, who
was one of the Connecticut patentees.[17] In the confusion which
ensued in England Fenwick found himself isolated; and, assuming to
himself the ownership of the fort and the neighboring town, he sold
both to Connecticut in 1644, and promised to transfer the rest of the
extensive territory granted to the patentees "if it ever came into his
power to do so."[18] As the Connecticut government was entirely
without any legal warrant from the government of England, this
agreement of Fenwick's was deemed of much value, for it gave the
colony a quasi-legal standing.
In 1649 East Hampton, on Long Island, was annexed to the colony, and
in 1650 Norwalk was settled. In 1653 Mattabeseck, on the Connecticut,
was named Middletown; and in 1658 Nameaug, at the mouth of the Pequot
River, settled by John Winthrop, Jr., in 1646, became New London. In
1653 Connecticut had twelve towns and seven hundred and seventy-five
persons were taxed in the colony.[19]
While Connecticut was thus establishing itself, another colony, called
New Haven, controlled by the desire on the part of its leading men to
create a state on a thoroughly theocratic model, grew up opposite to
Long Island. The chief founder of the colony was John Davenport, who
had been a noted minister in London, and with him were associated
Theophilus Eaton, Edward Hopkins, and several other gentlemen of good
estates and very religiously inclined. They reached Boston from
England in July, 1637, when the Antinomian quarrel was at its height,
and Davenport was a member of the synod which devoted most of its time
to the settlement, or rather the aggravation, of the Antinomian
difficulty.
Owing to Davenport's reputation and the wealth of his principal
friends, the authorities of Massachusetts made every effort to retain
them in that colony, and offered them their choice of a place for
settlement. These persuasions failed, and after a nine months' stay
Davenport and his followers moved away, nominally because they desired
to divert the thoughts of those who were plotting for a general
governor for New England, but really because there were too many
Antinomians in Massachusetts, and the model republic desired by
Davenport could never be brought about by accepting the position of a
subordinate township under the Massachusetts jurisdiction.[20].
One of the results of the Pequot War was to make known the country
west of Fort Saybrook, and in the fall of 1637 Theophilus Eaton and
some others went on a trip to explore for themselves the coasts and
lands in that direction. They were so much pleased with what they saw
at "Quinnipiack" that in March, 1638, the whole company left Boston to
take up their residence there, and called their new settlement New
Haven. Soon after their arrival they entered into a "plantation
covenant," preliminary to a more formal engagement.[21] This agreement
pledged the settlers to accept the teachings of Scripture both as a
civil system and religious code.
Having no charter of any kind, they founded their rights to the soil
on purchases from the Indians, of which they made two (November and
December, 1638).[22] The next summer they proceeded to the solemn work
of a permanent government. June 4, 1639, all the free planters met in
a barn, and Mr. Davenport preached from the text, "Wisdom hath builded
her home; she hath hewn out her seven pillars." He then proposed a
series of resolutions which set forth the purpose of establishing a
state to be conducted strictly according to the rules of Scripture.
When these resolutions were adopted Davenport proposed two others
designed to reduce to practice the theory thus formally approved. It
was now declared that only church-members should have the right of
citizenship, and that a committee of twelve should be appointed to
choose seven others who were to be the constitution-makers.[23]
These articles were subscribed by one hundred and thirteen of the
people, and after due time for reflection the twelve men chosen as
above elected the "seven pillars," Theophilus Eaton, Esq., John
Davenport, Robert Newman, Matthew Gilbert, Thomas Fugill, John
Punderson, and Jeremiah Dixon, who proceeded in the same solemn and
regular manner to reorganize the church and state. First they set up
the church by associating with themselves nine others, and then after
another interval, on October 25, 1639, a court was held at which the
sixteen church-members proceeded to elect Theophilus Eaton as governor
for a year and four other persons to aid him as "deputies," who were
thereupon addressed by Davenport in what was called a charge.
Under the government thus formed a general court of the freemen was
held every year for the election of governor and assistants, and to
these officers was confided the entire administration of affairs.
There was no body of statutes till many years later, and during this
time the only restriction on the arbitrary authority of the judges was
the rules of the Mosaic law. The body of the free burgesses was very
cautiously enlarged from court to court.
Hardly had the people of New Haven settled themselves in their new
government before two other towns, Guilford, seventeen miles north,
and Milford, eleven miles south, sprang up in their neighborhood.
Though practically independent, their constitution was modelled after
that of New Haven.[24] Besides Guilford and Milford another town
called Stamford, lying west of the Connecticut territory and loosely
connected with New Haven, was also settled.[25] In the political
isolation of these towns one sees the principle of church
independence, as held by Davenport and his followers.
In April, 1643, apprehension from the Indians, the Dutch, and their
neighbor Connecticut caused a union of these towns with New Haven. The
new commonwealth was organized just in time to become a member of the
greater confederation of the colonies founded in May, 1643. It was
not, however, till October 27, 1643, that a general constitution was
agreed upon.[26] It confined the suffrage to church-members and
established three courts--the plantation court for small cases,
consisting of "fitt and able" men in each town; the court of
magistrates, consisting of the governor, deputy governor, and three
assistants for weighty cases; and the general court, consisting of the
magistrates and two deputies for each of the four towns which were to
sit at New Haven twice a year, make the necessary laws for the
confederation, and annually elect the magistrates. Trial by jury was
dispensed with, because no such institution was found in the Mosaic
law.
In 1649 Southold, on Long Island, and in 1651 Branford, on the
main-land, were admitted as members of the New Haven confederacy; and
in 1656 Greenwich was added. And the seven towns thus comprehended
gave the colony of New Haven the utmost extent it ever obtained.
[Footnote 1: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 146.]
[Footnote 2: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 176, 177.]
[Footnote 3: Ibid., 225, 226; Gardiner, _Pequot Warres_ (Mass. Hist.
Soc., _Collections_, 3d series, III.), 131-160.]
[Footnote 4: Gardiner, _Pequot Warres_; Winthrop, _New England_, I.,
231-233, 238, 259.]
[Footnote 5: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 1st series, I., 175.]
[Footnote 6: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 234-236.]
[Footnote 7: Ibid., 267, 312; Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc.,
_Collections_, 2d series, VIII.), 132.]
[Footnote 8: _Conn. Col. Records_, I., 9.]
[Footnote 9: Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d.
series, VIII.), 134-136.]
[Footnote 10: Ibid.; Underhill, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc.,
_Collections_, 3d series, VI.), 25.]
[Footnote 11: Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d
series, III.), 144.]
[Footnote 12: Ibid.; Winthrop, _New England_, I., 268, 278-281.]
[Footnote 13: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 92.]
[Footnote 14: Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d
series, VIII.), 148.]
[Footnote 15: _Conn. Col. Records_, I., 20-25, 119.]
[Footnote 16: The same rule prevailed in Massachusetts. For the
result, see Baldwin, _Early History of the Ballot in Connecticut_
(Amer. Hist. Assoc. _Papers_, IV.), 81; Perry, _Historical Collections
of the American Colonial Church_, 21; Palfrey, _New England_, II.,
10.]
[Footnote 17: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 368.]
[Footnote 18: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 507-510.]
[Footnote 19: Palfrey, _New England_, II., 377.]
[Footnote 20: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 283, 312, 484.]
[Footnote 21: _New Haven Col. Records_, I., 12.]
[Footnote 22: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 98.]
[Footnote 23: _New Haven Col. Records_, I., 11-17.]
[Footnote 24: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 107; Doyle, _English
Colonies_, II., 196.]
[Footnote 25: _New Haven Col. Records_, I., 69.]
[Footnote 26: Ibid., 112.]
[Illustration: MAINE IN 1652]