CONNECTICUT 



1548 



CONNECTICUT 



legislative department. It consists of a senate 

 of thirty-five members and a house of repre- 

 sentatives of 258 members, all elected for two 

 years, at a salary of $300 each for regular ses- 

 sions and mileage for extra sessions. Regular 

 sessions are biennial, commencing in January 

 of odd-numbered years, and cannot continue 

 beyond the first Wednesday after the first 

 Monday in June. Among other powers, the 

 general assembly may grant divorces, confirm 

 titles and annul decisions of minor justices. 

 The judicial department consists of a supreme 

 court of errors with a chief justice and four 

 associate justices, who serve eight years; a 

 superior court with six judges who also serve 

 eight years ; and, in some of the principal cities, 

 inferior courts of common pleas whose judges 

 serve four years. The governor nominates and 

 the legislature appoints all judges. 



In addition to certain other requisites, such 

 as age, term of residence, and moral character, 

 male electors must be able to read any article 

 of the Constitution of the United States or any 

 section of the state statutes. Women are al- 

 lowed to vote for school officials. 



History. The first settlement was a Dutch 

 trading post at Hartford in 1633. But the 

 English had become interested in the region, 

 and the land from Narragansett Bay to the 

 Pacific having been granted to Lord Saye and 

 Sele and others in 1631, John Winthrop, Jr., 

 was sent from England as governor. He imme- 

 diately built a fort at Saybrook to prevent 

 the Dutch from getting control of Connecticut 

 and gave settlers who had previously located at 

 Windsor, Wethersfield and Hartford permission 

 to remain. Gradually various ministers and 

 their congregations, to break away from the 

 strict Puritan government in Massachusetts, 

 migrated to the Connecticut Valley. Soon the 

 Connecticut Colony numbered 800 people, in- 

 cluding the towns of Windsor, Wethersfield and 

 Hartford. In 1639 they adopted a constitution 

 which was the first written constitution in 

 America, giving the state the name of the 

 CONSTITUTION STATE. 



In the meantime another colony, known as 

 the New Haven Colony, was established with 

 a strict government based on the Scriptures. 

 It included New Haven, Milford, Guilford, 

 Stamford and Southold. Though occasionally 

 disturbed by Pequot Indians and the Dutch, 

 both colonies expanded, and Connecticut be- 

 came known as one of the most prosperous 

 and liberal of the New England colonies. By 

 purchase and colonization it gradually gained 



possession of most of the present state, and in 

 1662, under a charter secured from Charles II, 

 absorbed the New Haven Colony. This charter 

 served as its constitution when it became a 

 state in 1776, and was retained until 1818, when 

 a new one was adopted. Tradition tells that 

 when Governor Andros demanded the Con- 

 necticut charter in 1687 it was hidden in the 

 hollow trunk of the famous Charter Oak and 

 remained there until 1693. 



During the Revolutionary War Connecticut 

 earned the name PROVISION STATE, for troops 

 and supplies were generously supplied. Its 

 war governor, Jonathan Trumbull, was one of 

 the closest friends and advisers of Washington. 

 During the war the British burned Danbury, in 

 1777, and raided New Haven in 1779. Forts 

 Griswold and Trumbull were taken by the 

 traitor Benedict Arnold in 1781. 



Through the influence of delegates from 

 Connecticut at the Constitutional Convention 

 in 1787 the present system of representation in 

 Congress was adopted. Connecticut opposed 

 the War of 1812, and its capital was the seat of 

 the Hartford Convention. Although Hartford 

 and New Haven were joint capitals of Con- 

 necticut for many years, in 1873 the former 

 became the sole capital. In 1881 the long-dis- 

 puted western boundary was definitely settled. 



The progress of Connecticut in reforms which 

 are affecting the whole nation is shown in the 

 passage of stringent pure food laws in 1907, the 

 authorization of a public utilities commission 

 in 1911 and two years later the passage of a 

 workingmen's compensation act. T.S.W. 



Other Items of Interest. It was in Connecti- 

 cut that the famous Blue Laws, with their 

 over-strictness, were long supposed to have 

 been in force, but it was later discovered that 

 these were the invention of an exiled colonist 

 whose purpose was ridicule. See BLUE LAWS. 



Of all the governors of the thirteen colonies, 

 Trumbull was the only one who at the out- 

 break of the Revolution was not asked to 

 resign. 



Connecticut was the first colony to instruct 

 its delegates to vote for the Declaration of 

 Independence. 



The name Brother Jonathan, popularly ap- 

 plied to the United States, is said to have been 

 derived from that of Jonathan Trumbull, war 

 governor of Connecticut. 



As early as 1732 the territory was manufac- 

 turing men's hats in such quantities that the 

 hat-makers of London complained that imports 

 from Connecticut were ruining their business. 



