Thread by @IJSanders

1. So far we’ve done 18 states in #50Weeks50Constitutions, & gone well into the 1800s. Now on to Connecticut. But . . . wait. Connecticut had been a state for a long time by then & a colony before that. AND isn’t its nickname the “Constitution State”?! What’s up with that?

2. Many states have “constitutional” history before their 1st state constitution, including colonial charters or federal territorial acts. Conn had something even better. Some (but, definitely not all) argue it had the 1st written constitution in history, the Fundamental Orders.

3. In 1638 a group of colonists among a few towns drafted the Orders. They were a full system of government (although w/o much separation of powers), w/ elections, legislature & legal system. But unlike most other colonies the King of England wasn’t named as superior, only God.

4. Thus, Connecticut was essentially independent from England. Meanwhile back in Blighty, w/ the English Civil War & Protectorate (the short-lived regime of Oliver Cromwell) they had more pressing matters than worry about the little settlement’s status.

5. But with the Restoration & Charles II, & a desire for some kind of recognition, the Crown & the people of Connecticut came to a resolution where, essentially, the Orders were turned into a colonial charter. This didn’t mean much, though, as it said pretty much the same stuff.

6. Both the Orders & the 1662 Charter were changed from time to time as ordinary legislation. Thus, they weren’t constitutions as we would think them (needing some kind of supermajority mechanism to change). But they were viewed as fundamental plans of government.

7. Then came 1776. Other states adopted brand-spanking-new constitutions. For Conn, who had been kind of independent, & whose homage to the King after 1662 was pretty nominal, they saw no need. The Declaration of Independence was ok, but they didn't need anything more.

8. This continued after the war & even after ratification of the US Constitution. It helped that Conn had a very stable government. All Federalist, all the time. The same people would stay in office indefinitely. The Secretary of State stayed in the Wyllys family for 98 years!

9. But eventually growing discontent among the Jeffersonian faction, discord from non-Congregationalists, & growing outrage at restrictive suffrage rights led to a change in politics, & a movement for a constitution.

10. A BIG issue at the convention in 1818 was disestablishing the Congressionalist church. The Federalists fought it unsuccessfully. A bill of rights was adopted w/o much controversy & the judiciary was made relatively independent.

Cf @JDenHartog1776's:

amazon.com/Disestablishme…

@JDenHartog1776 11. One thing the convention didn’t do was fix apportionment in the lower house of the legislature, where towns got 1 or 2 seats depending on their antiquity, not on their size. That would have to wait until the Supreme Court forced the state’s hand, almost 150 years later.

@JDenHartog1776 12. But otherwise the constitution stood the test of time until the 1965 convention. A convention did propose a new constitution in 1902 to the voters, but it was defeated by a 2-1 margin.

@JDenHartog1776 13. Apart from reapportionment, the 1965 version did not make many changes. There was some “clean up” about religious liberty (for non-Christians), and a two-thirds override requirement was added to the Governor’s veto. Otherwise things seemed Fundamentally ok.

@JDenHartog1776 14. Sources:
Wesley Horton, The Connecticut State Constitution
libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/law/connecticu…
connecticuthistory.org/the-fundamenta…