The preamble of the Fundamental Orders carries a direct reference to Wethersfield along with the two other original towns, Windsor and Hartford, on the banks of the “River of Conectecotte.” At that time, those were the only settlements in the Connecticut colony. In January 1639, the document was presented to Governor Hooker and then was referred to the General Court (the colonial legislature), where it was adopted and sent to the townships for ratification. The final draft was prepared by delegate and lawyer Roger Ludlow of Windsor. Our Wethersfield delegates then worked with fourteen others, from Windsor and Hartford, to write the Fundamental Orders. He ended the sermon with the words, “As God has given us liberty, let us take it.”
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Hooker preached a rousing sermon from Deuteronomy 1:3 in which he proclaimed that “the foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people” and that the people were responsible to set the boundaries of their leaders‘ power. They were committeemen Andrew Ward, Thurston Raynor, and George Hubbard, and magistrates John Plum and Matthew Mitchell. In 1638, five godly men from our church were elected to represent Wethersfield in a convocation in Hartford summoned by Governor Thomas Hooker. First Church had a significant role in its creation.
According to the Constitution Society, the Fundamental Orders “is easily seen as the prototype of our Federal Constitution.” It has earned for Connecticut the nickname “The Constitution State” and it remains a key document in the proof of the Christian roots of the United States. The groundbreaking Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is believed by many to be the first written democratic constitution in history. Of all the important legacies of First Church of Christ, one piece of writing stands out from our earliest history for its contribution to the Christian origins of our nation-a priceless heritage that still blesses us to this day.
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