148 CONNECTICUT’S INFLUENCE 
ber for each town might be reduced. The noticeable 
feature is that the towns were to be equally represented, 
without regard to their population. This feature gives 
a distinctly federal character to this remarkable con- 
stitution. In the face of this fact it cannot well be 
denied that the original Connecticut was a federation 
of towns. A careful and detailed study of the history 
of the two states would further convince us that the 
town has always had more importance in Connecticut 
than in Massachusetts. 
With regard to the governor, there was to be a sys- 
tem of popular election without any preliminary nomi- 
nation. An election was to be held each year in the 
spring, at which every freeman was entitled to hand to 
the proper persons a paper containing the name of the 
person whom he desired for governor. The papers 
were then counted and the name which was found on 
the greatest number of ballots was declared elected. 
Here we have the popular election by a simple plural- 
ity vote. As for the six magistrates, the deputies from 
each town in the General Court might nominate two 
candidates, and the court as a whole might nominate 
as many more as it liked. This nomination was not 
to be acted upon until the next or some subsequent 
meeting of the Court. When the time came for 
choosing six, the secretary read the names of the 
candidates, and in the case of each candidate every 
freeman was to bring in a written ballot which signi- 
fied a vote in his favour, and a blank ballot which was 
equivalent to a black-ball, and he who had more votes 
than black-balls was chosen. 
Into the details of this constitution I need not go, 
but may dismiss it with a few general remarks. 
