Page:The military and civil history of Connecticut during the war of 1861-65 - comprising a detailed account of the various regiments and batteries, through march, encampment, bivouac (IA 00359433.3197.emory.edu).pdf/25

CONNECTICUT. - COLONIAL RECORD.

CHAPTER I.

Early History of Connecticut. — The Pequot War. – First American Constitution. -Heavy Taxation. - Courage of the New Haven Colony. - Character of the Civil Government. - The King's Officers resisted. - The Charter preserved. Connecticut Declaration of Independence. - Putnam at Boston. - The Statue at Litchfield. - Brother Jonathan. - Connecticut Men capture the first British Flags in 1812. - The Blue-Laws. - Comparison with other colonies. - Preeminence in Mechanics. - First Steamboat, Railroad, and Telegraph. - Influence on other States.

THE colonists of Connecticut organized the first republic on the Western continent. While all the other inhabitants of the coast - the Pilgrims of Plymouth, the English traders of Boston, the Dutch at New Amsterdam, and the Cavaliers and Huguenots on the distant shore of Virginia — were living wholly under royal charters, and endeavoring to maintain public order by irregular and capricious penalties, the planters of the Connecticut^[1] Colony assembled at Hartford in January, 1639, and solemnly framed and adopted the first American Constitution. The promptness of her citizens in dictating statute law was equaled by their zeal in enforcing it to secure justice and promote tranquillity.

Alike in domestic and foreign wars, Connecticut has always displayed great vigor and courage. In the spring of 1637, two and a half years after the erection of the first

1. Named after the River Quonektacut, - Long River, --so called by the savages.