For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition of
his divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we the
Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield are now
cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connectecotte and the
lands thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered
together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union
of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government
established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the
people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associate
and conjoin ourselves to be as one Public State or Commonwealth; and do
for ourselves and our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at
any time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation together,
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
practiced amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and
governed accordinbg to such Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees as shall be
made, ordered, and decreed as followeth:
1. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that there shall be yearly two
General Assemblies or Courts, the one the second Thursday in April, the
other the second Thursday in September following; 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 as shall be found
requisite: Whereof one to be chosen Governor for the year ensuing and
until another be chosen, and no other Magistrate to be chosen for more
than one year: provided always there be six chosen besides the Governor,
which being chosen and sworn according to an Oath recorded for that
purpose, shall have the power to administer justice according to the
Laws here established, and for want thereof, according to the Rule of
the Word of God; which choice shall be made by all that are admitted
freemen and have taken the Oath of Fidelity, and do cohabit within this
Jurisdiction having been admitted Inhabitants by the major part of the
Town wherein they live or the major part of such as shall be then
present.
2. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the election of the
aforesaid Magistrates shall be in this manner: every person present and
qualified for choice shall bring in (to the person deputed to receive
them) one single paper with the name of him written in it whom he
desires to have Governor, and that he that hath the greatest number of
papers shall be Governor for that year. And the rest of the Magistrates
or public officers to be chosen in this manner: the Secretary for the
time being shall first read the names of all that are to be put to
choice and then shall severally nominate them distinctly, and every one
that would have the person nominated to be chosen shall bring in one
single paper written upon, and he that would not have him chosen shall
bring in a blank; and every one that hath more written papers than
blanks shall be a Magistrate for that year; which papers shall be
received and told by one or more that shall be then chosen by the court
and sworn to be faithful therein; but in case there should not be six
chosen as aforesaid, besides the Governor, out of those which are
nominated, than he or they which have the most writen papers shall be a
Magistrate or Magistrates for the ensuing year, to make up the aforesaid
number.
3. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Secretary shall not
nominate any person, nor shall any person be chosen newly into the
Magistracy which was not propounded in some General Court before, to be
nominated the next election; and to that end it shall be lawful for each
of the Towns aforesaid by their deputies to nominate any two whom they
conceive fit to be put to election; and the Court may add so many more
as they judge requisite.
4. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that no person be chosen
Governor above once in two years, and that the Governor be always a
member of some approved Congregation, and formerly of the Magistracy
within this Jurisdiction; and that all the Magistrates, Freemen of this
Commonwealth; and that no Magistrate or other public officer shall
execute any part of his or their office before they are severally sworn,
which shall be done in the face of the court if they be present, and in
case of absence by some deputed for that purpose.
5. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that to the aforesaid Court of
Election the several Towns shall send their deputies, and when the
Elections are ended they may proceed in any public service as at other
Courts. Also the other General Court in September shall be for making of
laws, and any other public occasion, which concerns the good of the
Commonwealth.
6. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Governor shall,
either by himself or by the Secretary, send out summons to the
Constables of every Town for the calling of these two standing Courts
one month at least before their several times: And also if the Governor
and the greatest part of the Magistrates see cause upon any special
occasion to call a General Court, they may give order to the Secretary
so to do within fourteen days' warning: And if urgent necessity so
required, upon a shorter notice, giving sufficient grounds for it to the
deputies when they meet, or else be questioned for the same; And if the
Governor and major part of Magistrates shall either neglect or refuse to
call the two General standing Courts or either of them, as also at other
times when the occasions of the Commonwealth require, the Freemen
thereof, or the major part of them, shall petition to them so to do; if
then it be either denied or neglected, the said Freemen, or the major
part of them, shall have the power to give order to the Constables of
the several Towns to do the same, and so may meet together, and choose
to themselves a Moderator, and may proceed to do any act of power which
any other General Courts may.
7. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that after there are warrants
given out for any of the said General Courts, the Constable or
Constables of each Town, shall forthwith give notice distinctly to the
inhabitants of the same, in some public assembly or by going or sending
from house to house, that at a place and time by him or them limited and
set, they meet and assemble themselves together to elect and choose
certain deputies to be at the General Court then following to agitate
the affairs of the Commonwealth; which said deputies shall be chosen by
all that are admitted Inhabitants in the several Towns and have taken
the oath of fidelity; provided that none be chosen a Deputy for any
General Court which is not a Freeman of this Commonwealth.
The aforesaid deputies shall be chosen in manner following: every person
that is present and qualified as before expressed, shall bring the names
of such, written in several papers, as they desire to have chosen for
that employment, and these three or four, more or less, being the number
agreed on to be chosen for that time, that have the greatest number of
papers written for them shall be deputies for that Court; whose names
shall be endorsed on the back side of the warrant and returned into the
Court, with the Constable or Constables' hand unto the same.
8. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that Windsor, Hartford, and
Wethersfield shall have power, each Town, to send four of their Freemen
as their deputies to every General Court; and Whatsoever other Town
shall be hereafter added to this Jurisdiction, they shall send so many
deputies as the Court shall judge meet, a reasonable proportion to the
number of Freemen that are in the said Towns being to be attended
therein; which deputies shall have the power of the whole Town to give
their votes and allowance to all such laws and orders as may be for the
public good, and unto which the said Towns are to be bound.
9. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the deputies thus chosen
shall have power and liberty to appoint a time and a place of meeting
together before any General Court, to advise and consult of all such
things as may concern the good of the public, as also to examine their
own Elections, whether according to the order, and if they or the
greatest part of them find any election to be illegal they may seclude
such for present from their meeting, and return the same and their
reasons to the Court; and if it be proved true, the Court may fine the
party or parties so intruding, and the Town, if they see cause, and give
out a warrant to go to a new election in a legal way, either in part or
in whole. Also the said deputies shall have power to fine any that shall
be disorderly at their meetings, or for not coming in due time or place
according to appointment; and they may return the said fines into the
Court if it be refused to be paid, and the Treasurer to take notice of
it, and to escheat or levy the same as he does other fines.
10. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that every General Court,
except such as through neglect of the Governor and the greatest part of
the Magistrates the Freemen themselves do call, shall consist of the
Governor, or some one chosen to moderate the Court, and four other
Magistrates at least, with the major part of the deputies of the several
Towns legally chosen; and in case the Freemen, or major part of them,
through neglect or refusal of the Governor and major part of the
Magistrates, shall call a Court, it shall consist of the major part of
Freemen that are present or their deputiues, with a Moderator chosen by
them: In which said General Courts shall consist the supreme power of
the Commonwealth, and they only shall have power to make laws or repeal
them, to grant levies, to admit of Freemen, dispose of lands undisposed
of, to several Towns or persons, and also shall have power to call
either Court or Magistrate or any other person whatsoever into question
for any misdemeanor, and may for just causes displace or deal otherwise
according to the nature of the offense; and also may deal in any other
matter that concerns the good of this Commonwealth, except election of
Magistrates, which shall be done by the whole body of Freemen.
In which Court the Governor or Moderator shall have power to order the
Court, to give liberty of speech, and silence unseasonable and
disorderly speakings, to put all things to vote, and in case the vote be
equal to have the casting voice. But none of these Courts shall be
adjourned or dissolved without the consent of the major part of the
Court.
11. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that when any General Court
upon the occasions of the Commonwealth have agreed upon any sum, or sums
of money to be levied upon the several Towns within this Jurisdiction,
that a committee be chosen to set out and appoint what shall be the
proportion of every Town to pay of the said levy, provided the committee
be made up of an equal number out of each Town.
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