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{{Short description|British colony in North America (1636–1776)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Connecticut Colony
| common_name = Connecticut
| status = Colony of England (1636–1707)<br /> Colony of Great Britain (1707–1776)
| empire = British colony
| government_type = [[Self-governing colony]]
| event_start =
| date_start = March 3,
| year_start = 1636
| year_end = 1776
| event1 = [[Fundamental Orders of Connecticut]] adopted
| date_event1 = January 14, 1639
| event2 = Royal Charter granted
| date_event2 = October 9, 1662
| event3 = Part of the [[Dominion of New England]]
| date_event3 = 1686-89
| event_end = Independence
| date_end = July 4,
| p1 = Saybrook Colony
| p2 = New Haven Colony
| s1 = Connecticut
| flag_s1 = Flag of the United States (1776-1777).svg
| image_flag =
| image_flag2 =
| image_coat =
| image_map = Ctcolony.png
| image_map_caption = Map of the Connecticut, [[New Haven Colony|New Haven]], and [[Saybrook Colony|Saybrook]] colonies
| capital = [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]] <small>(1636–1776)</small><br />[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] <small>(joint capital with Hartford, 1701–76)</small>
| common_languages = [[English language|English]], [[Mohegan-Pequot language|Mohegan-Pequot]], and [[Quiripi language|Quiripi]]
| religion = [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregationalism]] <small>([[State religion|official]])</small>{{sfn|Barck|Lefler|1958|p=398}}
| currency = [[Connecticut pound]]
| representative1 = [[John Haynes (governor)|John Haynes]] (first)
| year_representative1 = 1639-1640
| representative2 = [[Jonathan Trumbull]] (last)
| year_representative2 = 1769-1776
| title_representative = [[List of colonial governors of Connecticut#Connecticut Colony, 1639–1776|Governor]]
| deputy1 =
| year_deputy1 =
| deputy2 =
| year_deputy2 =
| title_deputy =
| legislature = [[Connecticut General Assembly#History|General Court]]
| today = {{Flag|United States}}<br>
'''∟'''{{Flag|Connecticut}}
}}
The '''Connecticut Colony''', originally known as the '''Connecticut River Colony''', was an English colony in [[New England]] which became the state of [[Connecticut]]. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settlement for a [[Puritans|Puritan]] congregation of settlers from the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] led by [[Thomas Hooker]]. The English secured their control of the region in the [[Pequot War]]. The colony eventually absorbed the neighboring [[New Haven Colony|New Haven]] and [[Saybrook Colony|Saybrook]] colonies. It was part of the brief [[Dominion of New England]]. The colony's founding document was the [[Fundamental Orders of Connecticut]], which has been called the first written constitution of a democratic government, earning Connecticut the nickname "The Constitution State".<ref name=ctgov>{{cite web |url=https://portal.ct.gov/about/early-history |website=CT.gov |title=Early History}}</ref>
== History ==
Prior to European settlement, the land that would become Connecticut was home to the [[Wappinger|Wappinger Confederacy]] along the western coast and the [[Niantic people|Niantics]] on the eastern coast. Further inland were the [[Pequot]], who pushed the Niantic to the coast and would become the most important tribe in relations with colonists. Also present were the [[Nipmuc people|Nipmunks]] and [[Mohicans]], though these two tribes largely lived in the neighboring states of [[Massachusetts]] and [[New York (state)|New York]] respectively.{{sfn|Bingham|1962|p=6-7}} The first European to visit Connecticut was Dutch explorer [[Adriaen Block]], who sailed up the Connecticut River with his yacht ''[[Onrust]]''.{{sfn|Bingham|1962|pp=2-5}}<ref name=scw>{{cite web |url=https://www.colonialwarsct.org/1614.htm |website=The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut |publisher=[[General Society of Colonial Wars]] |title=Adriaen Block}}</ref> Accordingly, as the first Europeans to explore Connecticut, the Dutch claimed the land as part of [[New Netherland]] and negotiated a land purchase of 20 acres along the river from Wopigwooit, the Grand Sachem of the Pequot in 1633. The Dutch would establish a trading post named Kivett's Point and a redoubt named [[House of Hope (fort)|Fort Good Hope]], the future sites of [[Saybrook Colony|Saybrook]] and Hartford respectively.{{sfn|Bingham|1962|p=10-11}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://saybrookhistory.org/history-of-old-saybrook/ |title=History of Old Saybrook |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Saybrook History |publisher=Old Saybrook Historical Society |access-date= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/digital-exhibitions/a-tour-of-new-netherland/connecticut/house-of-hope/|title = House of Hope | A Tour of New Netherland}}</ref>
===English settlement===
In 1631, a group of [[sachems]] from the Connecticut valley led by Wahquimacut visited [[Plymouth Colony]] and Boston, asking both colonies to send settlers to Connecticut to fight the Pequot. Massachusetts governor [[John Winthrop]] rejected the proposal but [[Edward Winslow]], governor of Plymouth was more open, traveling to Connecticut in person in 1632.{{sfn|Stiles|1859|p=9}} Winslow, along with [[William Bradford (governor)|William Bradford]] would later travel to Boston to convince the leaders of Massachusetts Bay to join Plymouth in constructing a trading post on the Connecticut River before the Dutch could. Winthrop rejected the offer, calling Connecticut "not fit to meddle with" citing hostile Indians and the difficulty of moving large ships into the Connecticut River.{{sfn|Bingham|1962|pp=12-13}}{{sfn|Winthrop|1908|p=103}}{{sfn|Bradford|2008|pp=370-372}}
Despite the Bay Colony's refusal to join the venture, Plymouth sent a [[barque|bark]] led by William Holmes to establish a trading post on the Connecticut. Besides the English settlers, they took some of the original sachems of the area to prove the validity of their claim. As they passed Fort Good Hope they were threatened by the Dutch, a threat ignored by Holmes. Holmes proceeded a few miles up river and constructed a trading post on the modern site of [[Windsor, Connecticut|Windsor]].<ref name=b14 />{{sfn|Stiles|1859|pp=11-12}} Hearing of the English activities, New Netherland governor [[Wouter Van Twiller]] dispatched 70 men to dislodge the English. The Dutch would find the English well prepared to defend themselves and left, seeking to avoid bloodshed.{{sfn|Carpenter|Arthur|1854|p=32}} Meanwhile, [[John Oldham (colonist)|John Oldham]] led a group of men from the Bay Colony to the river to see Connecticut for themselves. They returned with accounts of plentiful beaver, hemp, and graphite. A year later, Oldham would lead a group of settlers to found the town of [[Wethersfield, Connecticut|Wethersfield]].<ref name=b14>{{harvnb|Bingham|1962|p=14}}</ref>{{sfn|Taylor|1979|pp=3-4}}
By 1635, Massachusetts' English population had grown immensely and it was clear there was not enough land for the settlers. Particularly eager to leave the crowded Bay colony were the residents of [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Newtown]]. The founder of Newtown, [[Thomas Dudley]] was frequently at odds with Winthrop, including anger at the choice of Boston as the colony's capital and refusal to support the construction of a fort in Boston.{{sfn|Bingham|1962|p=17}} Dudley sent one Thomas Hooker, Newtown's pastor to Boston to resolve the latter dispute, but the resentment of Winthrop remained.<ref>{{cite book |title=Records of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New England, 1632-1830 |url=https://archive.org/details/recordsofchurcho00firs/ |date=1906 |page=iii |chapter=Preface|publisher=Boston, E. Putnam}}</ref>{{sfn|Bingham|1962|pp=19-20}} After Dudley replaced Winthrop as governor in May 1634, the issue of Hooker's congregation's desire for removal to Connecticut was raised in the [[General Court of Massachusetts|General Court]]. Opponents of the removal feared the impact of a large exodus of Massachusetts population and that the geographic division would foster disunity. A charismatic preacher like Hooker was also likely to draw future settlers from Massachusetts as well.<ref name=breach>{{cite journal |title= Repairing the Breach: Puritan Expansion, Commonwealth Formation, and the Origins of the United Colonies of New England, 1630–1643 |last= Durge |first = Neal T. |date=September 2018 |journal= [[The New England Quarterly]] |volume=91 |issue=3 |pages =382-417 |jstor=26497581}}</ref> Ultimately the General Court swayed the Newtowners with a grant of land within Massachusetts.<ref name=breach></ref> This proved unsatisfactory, but removal was nonetheless delayed for two years.{{sfn|Walker|1891|p=83}}{{sfn|Bingham|1962|p=20}}
[[File:Mr Thomas Hooker & His People travelling 1636.jpeg|thumb|Thomas Hooker and his people traveling|left]]
Despite the refusal of Hooker's request for removal, settlers continued to pour into the valley. In May 1635 the Saybrook Colony was established at the mouth of the Connecticut River.<ref>{{citejournal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4048260 |title=Sir Arthur Hesilrige and the Saybrook Colony |first=Hugh R. Jr. |last=Engstrom |journal=Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies |date=1973|volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=157–168 |doi=10.2307/4048260 |jstor=4048260 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Considerable amounts of emigrants from Massachusetts also settled in the recently established town of Wethersfield.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient11adam/ |title=The history of ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut|last=Adams |first=Sherman W. |date=1904 |publisher=Grafton Press |page=21}}</ref> Plymouth's settlement of Windsor also found itself swamped by settlers from [[Dorchester, Massachusetts|Dorchester]] who took over the settlement. The issue was resolved when the Dorchester settlers agreed to pay the Plymouth settlers for the land appropriated.{{sfn|Bingham|1962|pp=24-25}} Finally in 1636 the arrival of a new group of settlers allowed Hooker's congregation to sell their homes and set off on the journey to Connecticut on the May 31.{{sfn|Walker|1891|pp=91-92}}
Hooker's group of around a hundred settlers and as many cattle soon arrived at the Connecticut River and established the town of Newtown near the Dutch fort. This name would not last however, as it was soon renamed Hartford after [[Hertford]], the hometown of settler [[Samuel Stone]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.foundersofhartford.org/historic-hartford/history-of-early-hartford/ |website=Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford |title=History of Early Hartford}}</ref> In May 1638 Thomas Hooker delivered a sermon on civil government. Inspired by this sermon the settlers sought to create a constitution for the colony. The resulting document, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, was likely mostly drafted by [[Roger Ludlow]], the only trained lawyer in the colonies. The document was adopted in January 1639 and formally united the settlements of Hartford, Windsor, and Wetherfield together and has been called the first written democratic constitution.<ref name=ctgov /><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23546686 |journal=Early American Studies |date=2012 |last=Besso |first=Michael |title=Thomas Hooker and His May 1638 Sermon|volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=194–225 |doi=10.1353/eam.2012.0002 |jstor=23546686 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://connecticuthistory.org/the-fundamental-orders-of-connecticut/ |title=The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut |date=2023 |website=Connecticut History |publisher=CTHUmanities}}</ref> Under the new constitution, [[John Haynes (governor)|John Haynes]] was elected governor with Ludlow as deputy governor. Owing to a restriction against governors seeking office in consecutive years, Haynes would alternate the office of governor with [[Edward Hopkins]] every year until 1655.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://museumofcthistory.org/2015/08/john-haynes/|title=John Haynes |website=Museum of Connecticut History |date=1999}}</ref> Shortly after the Fundamental Orders were established, the nearby New Haven colony organized its own government.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/359461 |journal=[[The New England Quarterly]] |title=John Cotton and the New Haven Colony |date=1930 |last=Calder |first=Isabel M.|volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=82–94 |doi=10.2307/359461 |jstor=359461 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
===Pequot War===
{{main|Pequot War}}
When Fort Good Hope was constructed, the Dutch specified in their treaty with the Pequot that the trading post was to be open to all tribes. Ignoring this, the Pequot attacked a rival tribe attempting to trade. The Dutch retaliated by kidnapping the sachem of the Pequot, Tatobem and holding him for ransom. After the Pequot paid the ransom, the Dutch gave them Tatobem's corpse. The Pequot retaliated for this by attacking an English ship, believing it to be Dutch. The ship's captain, John Stone, and his crew were killed by the Pequot.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bp_1001682 |title=History of the Indians of Connecticut : from the earliest known period to 1850 |pages=72–73 |first=John W. |last=DeForest |author-link=John William DeForest |date=1851 |publisher=W. J. Hamersley |___location=Hartford, CT}}</ref> A Pequot envoy was sent to Massachusetts to explain the misunderstanding. The envoy told the English about the mistaken identity of the ship. When asked to turn over the killers, the envoy claimed all but two of the killers had died of a recent smallpox epidemic and they lacked the authority to turn over the two survivors. The Pequot further claimed the killing was justified as Stone had captured two Pequots and mistreated them.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2947109 |title=Who Killed John Stone? A Note on the Origins of the Pequot War |last=Cave |first=Alfred A. |date=1992 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=509–521 |doi=10.2307/2947109 |jstor=2947109 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> When [[John Gallup]] was sailing to [[Long Island]] he spotted a [[Full-rigged pinnace|pinnace]] belonging to John Oldham, its deck covered with Indians. When Gallup attempted to board the ship to investigate, a fight ensued with Gallup victorious. The colonists blamed the Narragansett for the killing, warning [[Roger Williams]] to be careful. The Narragansett leaders [[Canonicus]] and [[Miantonomoh]] were able to reassure the colonist, claiming that the culprits not killed by Gallup were hiding among the Pequot.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1920388 |title=Pequots and Puritans: The Causes of the War of 1637 |date=1962 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |last=Vaughn |first=Alden T.|volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=256–269 |doi=10.2307/1920388 |jstor=1920388 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
[[File:Pequot-war-underhill.jpg|Depiction of the attack on Fort Mystic|thumb]]
After this a group of ninety men led by [[John Endecott]] and his captains [[John Underhill (captain)|John Underhill]] and Nathaniel Turner was sent from Massachusetts to the Pequot's territory to demand the return of the murderers of both Stone and Oldham. The force first sailed to Block Island, but the Indians evaded them there and the force left with the only casualty inflicted on the villagers being the burning of the island's empty villages.{{Sfn|Cave|1996|pp=110-113}} When the forced arrived in Pequot territory, they were told that the murder was committed by none other than [[Sassacus]], grand sachem of the Pequot. The Pequot also claimed to be unable to distinguish the Dutch from the English. Disbelieving these claims and seeing there were no women or children among the Pequot, Endecott attacked, beginning the war.{{Sfn|Cave|1996|pp=115-117}} The Pequot responded by besieging Saybrook and attacking Wethersfield, where they would kill nine and take two women hostage.{{sfn|Taylor|1979|p=13}} The women were daughters of William Swaine and would later be rescued by the Dutch.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcolonyo00atwa_0 |page=610 |title=History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut |first=Edward E. |last=Atwater |date=1902}}</ref>
Connecticut sent a force of ninety men, led by [[John Mason (colonist)|John Mason]]. The force was joined by sixty [[Mohegans]] led by [[Uncas]] and came to Saybrook where a group of Massachusetts men led by Underhill joined them. On May 26, 1637, the group, encamped outside a fortified Pequot village on the [[Mystic River]], [[Mystic Massacre|launched a surprise attack]] at dawn. The English charged into the village, set it on fire, and formed a ring around the stockades to kill anyone attempting to escape. The Indian allies formed a second ring to catch anyone who managed to escape the first. Hundreds of Pequots died, many of the women and children.{{Sfn|Taylor|1979|p=14}}
Their spirits broken, many of the Pequot attempted to flee west. Mason, accompanied by [[Israel Stoughton]] pursued a group of three hundred Pequots to a swamp near modern [[Fairfield, Connecticut|Fairfield]], where they [[Fairfield Swamp Fight|killed and captured a great number of them]]. Sassacus was able to escape to the [[Mohawks]], who immediately killed him and his party, sending his scalp to Boston.{{sfn|Taylor|1979|pp=14-15}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Long Wake of the Pequot War |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23547653 |journal=Early American Studies |date=2011 |last=Grandjean |first=Katherine A.|volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=379–411 |doi=10.1353/eam.2011.0019 |jstor=23547653 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> With the Pequots vanquished the [[Treaty of Hartford (1638)|Treaty of Hartford]] was signed between Connecticut, the Mohegans, and the Narragansett, granting the Connecticut settlers the exclusive right to the former Pequot land and dissolving the Pequot as both a political and cultural entity, with surviving Pequots made to assimilate into the other tribes.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5309/willmaryquar.72.3.0461 |title=The Treaty of Hartford (1638): Reconsidering Jurisdiction in Southern New England |date=2015 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |last=Grant |first=Daragh|volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=461–498 |doi=10.5309/willmaryquar.72.3.0461 |jstor=10.5309/willmaryquar.72.3.0461 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
===Consolidating the colony===
[[File:John Winthrop, the Younger - Harvard 17th century.jpg|Governor John Winthrop Jr.|thumb|left]]
The Pequot War had made clear the difference in needs between Connecticut in Massachusetts clear. During the conflict, Connecticut favored a more cautious policy than Massachusetts. [[Lion Gardiner]], commander of [[Saybrook Colony|Saybrook Fort]] noted that Connecticut would face brunt of the damages of the conflict while Massachusetts was safe in the Bay. Connecticut asserted its status as a separate colony when at the conclusion of the war it renounced all treaties between the Narragansett and Massachusetts and began conducting Indian diplomacy on its own terms.<ref name=breach></ref>
With the outbreak of the [[English Civil War]], English support for the Saybrook Colony dried up. The colony's governor, [[George Fenwick (Parliamentarian)|George Fenwick]] negotiated a deal to sell the colony to Connecticut in 1644.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/saybrookatmoutho00gate |page=54 |title=Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut; the first one hundred years |first=Gilman C. |last=Gates |date=1935|publisher=[Orange], [New Haven], [Press of the Wilson H. Lee Co.] }}</ref> Fenwick would return to England and serve with distinction under [[Oliver Cromwell]].<ref>{{Cite DNB|wstitle= Fenwick, George |volume= 18 |last= Firth |first= Charles |author-link= Charles Firth (historian) |page= 328 |year= |short=1}}</ref> Inspired by the successes of colonial cooperation during the Pequot War, Connecticut, along with Massachusetts, Plymouth, and New Haven formed the [[New England Confederation]] to mutually defend the colonies against the Dutch, French, and Indians.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/art1613.asp |title=Avalon Project – the Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England; May 19, 1643}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The United Colonies of New England—1643-90 |last=Ward |first=Harry M. |url=https://archive.org/details/unitedcoloniesof0000ward/ |publisher=[[Vantage Press]] |date=1961 |___location=New York, NY |chapter=II. Genesis of Union |pages=23–48}}</ref> Before leaving for England, Fenwick, along with Hopkins, would serve as Connecticut's first commissioners to the Confederation.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Ward |editor-first=Harry |title=The United Colonies of New England-1643-90 |publisher=Vantage Press=1961 |pages=400-411}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite book |title=History of New England |date=1858 |first=John G. |last=Palfrey |volume=2 |chapter=Appendix |page=635 |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company (New York) |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofnewengl02john}}</ref> Connecticut's membership in the Confederation also meant it sent troops to fight in [[King Philip's War]], though Connecticut itself was minimally impacted.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.colonialwarsct.org/1675.htm |title=1675 — King Philip's War |website=Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut |publisher=General Society of Colonial Wars}}</ref>
Like its fellow Puritan colonies, Connecticut would welcome Cromwell's victory in the civil war The new English government, however, would soon cause issues for Connecticut. The Confederation negotiated the [[Treaty of Hartford (1650)|Treaty of Hartford]] defining the border between New Netherland and the English colonies, but the government in England refused to ratify it.<ref>{{cite book |title=History of New Netherland |series=New York Heritage Series |volume=2 |last=O'Callaghan |first=Edmund B. |author-link=Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan|publisher=Bartlett and Welford|___location=New York, NY|pages=151–155, 201–202}}</ref> Tensions with the Dutch would be inflamed by the [[Navigation Act 1651]], restricting foreign trade with the colonies. These tensions would culminate in the [[First Anglo-Dutch War]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Navigation Act of 1651, the First Dutch War, and the London Merchant Community |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2592847 |last=Farnell |first=James E. |date=1964 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=439–454 |journal=[[The Economic History Review]]|doi=10.2307/2592847 |jstor=2592847 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The war's outbreak enabled Connecticut to seize Fort Good Hope in 1653.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Frederick Robertson|title=The History of North America, Volume IV|date=1904|publisher=George Barrie & Sons|___location=Philadelphia|page=134|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CrgTAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>
After the [[Stuart restoration|restoration of the Stuart monarchy]], many in Connecticut feared their colony's [[Puritanism]] and lack of a royal charter would lead to [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] curtailing the colony's self-government. Governor [[John Winthrop Jr.]] was sent to England in 1662 where he successfully obtained a charter. The charter was quite egalitarian, with Connecticut being one of two colonies to have [[Freeman (Thirteen Colonies)|freemen]] elect both the governor and members of the legislature.{{efn|name=a|The other was Rhode Island.}}{{sfn|Anderson|2017|p=10}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-31 |title=October 31: Connecticut's Greatest Legend Happened Today.... or Did It? |url=https://todayincthistory.com/2018/10/31/october-31-the-legend-of-the-charter-oak/ |website=Today in Connecticut History |language=en-US}}</ref> The charter also granted Connecticut extensive land claims, defining its borders as the [[Narragansett Bay]], the [[Pacific Ocean]], the southern border of Massachusetts and the [[40th parallel north]].<ref name=winthropexp>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/363060 |title=John Winthrop, Jr., Connecticut Expansionist: The Failure of His Designs on Long Island, 1663-1675 |last=Dunn |first=Richard S. |journal=The New England Quarterly |date=1956|volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=3–26 |doi=10.2307/363060 |jstor=363060 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> When representatives of Connecticut traveled to New Haven to show them that they were to be annexed into Connecticut, they initially met strong opposition. This opposition faded in 1664 when [[Conquest of New Netherland|New Netherland was seized]] and renamed [[Province of New York|New York]] after its proprietor, the [[Roman Catholic]] [[James II of England|Duke of York]]. New York's eastern boundary was defined as the Connecticut River, making New Haven within the claims of both New York and Connecticut. Unwilling to be ruled by a Catholic royalist, New Haven relented and agreed to join Connecticut.<ref>{{Cite book |title=
The Colonial Period Of American History: The Settlements II |last= Andrews |first=Charles M. |date=1936 |publisher= [[Yale University Press]] |pages=192-194}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Atwater |first=Edward Elias|url=https://archive.org/details/historycolonyne00atwagoog |title=History of the Colony of New Haven to Its Absorption into Connecticut |publisher=author |year=1881 |pages=467–468, 510}}</ref> The aforementioned seizure of New Netherland would also end Connecticut's claims on [[Long Island]], as when [[Captain John Scott]] took the island he claimed it not for Connecticut but for himself.<ref name=winthropexp />
==
[[File:Hiding-the-original-charter-in-the-oak.png|thumb|right|Hiding the charter in the oak]]
The Duke of York would ascend to the throne as King James II and VII. As one of his first acts, he would consolidate the English colonies from [[West Jersey]] to [[Province of Maine|Maine]] into the [[Dominion of New England]]. Sir [[Edmund Andros]] would be appointed governor of the new united colony. Andros demanded that Connecticut hand over its charter as it was no longer a separate colony. Governor [[Robert Treat]] attempted to delay handing over the charter for several months, but on October 31, 1687, Andros came to Hartford to retrieve the charter in person. Treat proceeded to give a speech well into the evening on the importance of the charter. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind came through the door, blowing out the candles. By the time the candles were relit, the charter had vanished, safely hidden away in a nearby oak tree by one Joseph Wadsworth.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-23 |title=The Legend of the Charter Oak |url=https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/legend-charter-oak/ |access-date=2021-04-23 |website=New England Historical Society |language=en-US |archive-date=2021-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423002123/https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/legend-charter-oak/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=muscthis>{{cite web |url=https://museumofcthistory.org/2015/08/robert-treat/ |website=Museum of Connecticut History |title=Robert Treat|date=August 14, 2015 }}</ref> The tree, which became known as the [[Charter Oak]] would endure as a symbol of Connecticut for generations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/legend-charter-oak/ |title=The Legend (and Souvernirs) of the Charter Oak |website=New England Historical Society|date=April 23, 2014 }}</ref> Andros replaced Puritan officials with [[Anglicans]] and imposed heavy taxes. His salary of £1,200 exceeded the entire annual expenditure of Massachusetts' former government. When James II was overthrown in the [[Glorious Revolution]], Andros initially attempted to suppress the news. Word did get out, and the colonists [[1689 Boston revolt|overthrew the dominion]] casting its government as crypto-Catholic supports of James II and themselves as loyal to the new [[Protestant]] monarchs of [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Mary II of England|Mary II]]. The dominion's short-lived experiment in centralized government ended and Connecticut, along with all the other colonies, had its charter restored.<ref>{{cite book |title=American Colonies |first=Alan |last=Taylor |date=2001 |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |pages=277–280}}</ref>
===Later history===
{{see also|History of Connecticut}}
In 1701, [[New Haven]] was designated co-capital with Hartford. At the first legislative session in New Haven to create a college for the colony, with Saybrook as the site and [[Abraham Pierson]] as the first rector. Pierson would run the college from his home in [[Killingworth, Connecticut|Killingworth]] until his death in 1707, when it was finally moved to Saybrook. Saybrook would soon prove to be too remote and New Haven was able to beat out other communities for the site of the college in 1716. Two years later, when [[Elihu Yale]] made a significant donation to the college, it was renamed [[Yale College]] in his honor.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://guides.library.yale.edu/yalehistory |title=A Brief History of Yale |publisher=Yale University}}</ref>
Connecticut played a key role in the [[First Great Awakening]]. On July 8, 1741, Connecticut-born [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]] famously delivered his sermon [[Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God|"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"]] in [[Enfield, Connecticut|Enfield]] in what [[Ola Elizabeth Winslow]] termed "the height of revival excitement."<ref>{{cite journal |title="Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God": Some Unfinished Business |jstor=366800 |last=Gallagher |first=Edward J. |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=73 |issue=2 |date=June 2000 |page= 202-221}}</ref> The revivals also divided the colony between [[Old and New Lights]] with Old Lights being skeptical of the revival and New Lights in support of it. This religious division developed into a political division, with the two groups feuding over a law against itinerant preachers passed by Old Light politicians.<ref>{{cite book |title=From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order in Connecticut 1960-1765|last=Bushman |first=Richard L. |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1967 |___location=Cambridge, MA |pages=235-266 |chapter=XV: New Lights in Politics}}</ref>
The ''[[Connecticut Courant]]'', the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States, was founded in Hartford in 1764.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.courant.com/2013/12/29/older-than-the-nation/ |date=December 29, 2013 |publisher=Hartford Courant |title=Older Than The Nation}}</ref>
Connecticut's population was staunchly in support of the American Revolution, with a fifth of the state's male population serving in the war. [[Jonathan Trumbull]] was the only colonial governor to support the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|patriots]]. [[Nathan Hale]], the first American spy, also hailed from the colony.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Connecticut-in-the-American-Revolution-2001.pdf |title=Connecticut in the American Revolution |publisher=[[Society of the Cincinnati]] |date=2002}}</ref>
==Demographics==
The colony was largely homogeneous, the vast majority of settlers were of English descent and the colony had only Protestant churches.{{sfn|Anderson|2017|page=10}}
The original colonies along the Connecticut River and in New Haven were established by separatist [[Puritans]] who were connected with the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony|Massachusetts]] and [[Plymouth Colony|Plymouth]] colonies. They held [[Calvinist]] religious beliefs similar to the English Puritans, but they maintained that their congregations needed to be separated from the English state church. They had immigrated to [[New England]] during the [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640)|Great Migration]]. In the middle of the 18th century, the government restricted voting rights with a property qualification and a church membership requirement.<ref name="Barack & Lefter pp. 258–259">{{harvnb|Barck|Lefler|1958|pp=258–259}}</ref> Congregationalism was the [[established church]] in the colony by the time of the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]] until it was disestablished in 1818.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weston Janis |first=Mark |date=2021 |title=Connecticut 1818: From Theocracy to Toleration Connecticut 1818: From Theocracy to Toleration |url=https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1488&context=law_review#:~:text=Even%20so%2C%20the%201818%20Constitution,would%20have%20to%20support%20themselves. |website=University of Connecticut School of Law}}</ref>
{{Historical populations
|type= USA
|1640|1472
|1650|4139
|1660|7980
|1670|12603
|1680|17246
|1690|21645
|1700|25970
|1710|39450
|1720|58830
|1730|75530
|1740|89580
|1750|111280
|1760|142470
|1770|183881
|1774|197842
|1780|206701
|footnote=Source: 1640–1760;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purvis |first=Thomas L. |url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 |title=Colonial America to 1763 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0816025275 |editor-last=Balkin |editor-first=Richard |___location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 128–129]}}</ref> 1774<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purvis |first=Thomas L. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/147 |title=Revolutionary America 1763 to 1800 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-0816025282 |editor-last=Balkin |editor-first=Richard |___location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/147 147]}}</ref> includes [[New Haven Colony]] (1638–1664) 1770–1780<ref name="Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics">{{Cite web |title=Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics |url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |page=1168}}</ref>
}}
== Economic and social history ==
The economy began with subsistence farming in the 17th century and developed with greater diversity and an increased focus on production for distant markets, especially the British colonies in the [[Caribbean]]. The American Revolution cut off imports from Britain and stimulated a manufacturing sector that made heavy use of the entrepreneurship and mechanical skills of the people. In the second half of the 18th century, difficulties arose from the shortage of good farmland, periodic money problems, and downward price pressures in the export market. In agriculture, there was a shift from grain to animal products.<ref>{{harvp|Daniels|1980}}</ref> The colonial government attempted to promote various commodities as export items from time to time, such as [[hemp]], [[potash]], and lumber, in order to bolster its economy and improve its balance of trade with Great Britain.<ref>{{harvp|Nutting|2000}}</ref>
Connecticut's domestic architecture included a wide variety of house forms. They generally reflected the dominant English heritage and architectural tradition.<ref>{{harvp|Smith|2007}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[List of colonial governors of Connecticut]]
* [[History of the Connecticut Constitution]]
* [[Connecticut Western Reserve]]
* [[History of Springfield, Massachusetts]]
==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Virginia DeJohn |title= The Martyr and the Traitor: Nathan Hale, Moses Dunbar, and the American Revolution. |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 2017 |___location= New York, NY}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Barck |first1=Oscar T. |title=Colonial America |last2=Lefler |first2=Hugh T. |publisher=Macmillan |year=1958 |___location=New York |oclc=1148613890 |url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericas0000unse |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bingham |first=Harold J. |title=History of Connecticut |volume=1 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |year=1962 |___location=West Palm Beach, FL |hdl=2027/uva.x001137341 |oclc=988183351 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x001137341 |via=HathiTrust}}
* {{cite book |last=Bradford |first=William |title=History of Plimoth Plantation |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24950/24950-h/24950-h.htm |publisher=[[Gutenburg Project]] |date=2008 |id={{OCLC|654227960|680468168|807361047}}}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Carpenter |editor-first1=William Henry |editor-last2=Arthur |editor-first2=Timothy Shay |title=The History of Connecticut from its earliest settlement to the present time |publisher=Lippincott, Grambo & Co. |publication-place=Philadelphia |year=1854 |hdl=2027/uc1.31158010568151 |oclc=642658909 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31158010568151 |via=HathiTrust}}
* {{cite book |last=Cave |first=Alfred A. |author-link=Alfred A. Cave |title=The Pequot War |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |publication-place=Amherst |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-585-08324-7 |oclc=43475458 |url=https://archive.org/details/pequotwar0000cave |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Daniels |first=Bruce C. |year=1980 |title=Economic development in colonial and revolutionary Connecticut: an overview |journal=[[William and Mary Quarterly]] |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=429–450 |doi=10.2307/1923811 |jstor=1923811}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Nutting |first=P. Bradley |year=2000 |title=Colonial Connecticut's search for a staple: a mercantile paradox |journal=[[New England Journal of History]] |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=58–69}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Ann Y. |year=2007 |title=A New Look at the Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut |journal=Connecticut History Review |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=16–44 |doi=10.2307/44369757 |jstor=44369757|s2cid=254492604 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stiles |first=Henry Reed |author-link=Henry Reed Stiles|title=The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00stil_1/page/n29/mode/2up |date=1859 |___location=New York, NY |publisher=[[Charles B. Norton]] |isbn=978-0-7884-0706-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Robert J. |title=Colonial Connecticut: A History |publisher=KTO Press |___location=Milwood, NY |year=1979}}
* {{cite book |last=Walker |first=George L. |title=Thomas Hooker: Preacher, Founder, Democrat |url=https://archive.org/details/thomashookerprea00walk |date=1891 |publisher=Dodd, Mead, and Company |___location=New York, NY}}
* {{cite book |last=Winthrop |first=John |author-link=John Winthrop |title=History of New England |isbn= |url=https://marbleheadmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pp-187-260-331Winthrop_s_Journal_History_of_New_Englan.pdf |publisher=Marblehead Museum |date=1908 |___location=Marblehead, MA}}
{{refend}}
==Further reading==
* Andrews, Charles M. ''The Colonial Period of American History: The Settlements, volume 2'' (1936) pp 67–194, by leading scholar
* {{Cite book |last=Atwater |first=Edward Elias |url=https://archive.org/details/historycolonyne00atwagoog |title=History of the Colony of New Haven to Its Absorption into Connecticut |publisher=author |year=1881}} to 1664
* {{Cite book |last=Berkin |first=Carol |url=https://archive.org/details/firstgenerations00berk |title=First Generations: Women in Colonial America |publisher=Hill and Wang |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8090-1606-8 |___location=New York, NY}}
* Burpee, Charles W. ''The story of Connecticut'' (4 vol 1939); detailed narrative in vol 1-2
* {{Cite book |last=Bushman |first=Richard L. |url=https://archive.org/details/refinementofamer00bush_0 |title=The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-679-74414-6 |___location=New York, NY}}
* {{Cite book |last=Butler |first=Jon |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780674056008 |title=Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-67405-601-5 |___location=London |url-access=registration}}
* Clark, George Larkin. ''A History of Connecticut: Its People and Institutions'' (1914) 608 pp; based on solid scholarship [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CWYlAAAAMAAJ online]
* Federal Writers' Project. ''Connecticut: A Guide to its Roads, Lore, and People'' (1940) famous WPA guide to history and to all the towns [https://www.questia.com/read/91387211/connecticut-a-guide-to-its-roads-lore-and-people online]
* Fraser, Bruce. ''Land of Steady Habits: A Brief History of Connecticut'' (1988), 80 pp, from state historical society
* {{Cite book |last1=Green |first1=Jack P. |title=Colonial British America: Essays in the New History of the Early Modern Era |last2=Pole |first2=J. R. |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1984 |isbn=9780801830556 |___location=Baltimore, MD}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hollister |first=Gideon Hiram |url=https://archive.org/details/historyconnecti01hollgoog |title=The History of Connecticut: From the First Settlement of the Colony to the Adoption of the Present Constitution |publisher=Durrie and Peck |year=1855}}, vol. 1 to 1740s
* {{Cite journal |last1=Hull |first1=Brooks B. |last2=Moran |first2=Gerald F. |year=1999 |title=The churching of colonial Connecticut: a case study |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60435/1/Hull%20B%20-%201999%20-%20Colonial%20Connecticut%20-%20RRR.pdf |journal=[[Review of Religious Research]] |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=165–183 |doi=10.2307/3512105 |jstor=3512105 |hdl-access=free |hdl=2027.42/60435}}
* Jones, Mary Jeanne Anderson. '' Congregational Commonwealth: Connecticut, 1636–1662'' (1968)
* {{Cite journal |last=Lipman |first=Andrew |year=2008 |title="A meanes to knitt them togeather": the exchange of body parts in the Pequot War |journal=[[William and Mary Quarterly]] |series=third series |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=3–28 |jstor=25096768}}
* Roth, David M. and Freeman Meyer. ''From Revolution to Constitution: Connecticut, 1763–1818'' (Series in Connecticut history) (1975) 111pp
* {{Cite book |last=Sanford, Elias Benjamin |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryconnect01sanfgoog |title=A history of Connecticut |publisher=S.S. Scranton |year=1887}}; very old textbook; strongest on military history, and schools
* Taylor, Robert Joseph. ''Colonial Connecticut: A History'' (1979); standard scholarly history
* {{Cite book |last=Trumbull |first=Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAo_AQAAMAAJ |title=Complete History of Connecticut, Civil and Ecclesiastical |year=1818}} very old history; to 1764
* [[Albert E. Van Dusen|Van Dusen, Albert E]]. ''Connecticut A Fully Illustrated History of the State from the Seventeenth Century to the Present'' (1961) 470pp the standard survey to 1960, by a leading scholar
* Van Dusen, Albert E. '' Puritans against the wilderness: Connecticut history to 1763 ''(Series in Connecticut history) 150pp (1975)
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Williams |editor-first=Peter W. |url=https://archive.org/details/perspectivesonam0000unse_d2w1 |title=Perspectives on American Religion and Culture |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-5771-8117-0 |___location=Malden, MA |url-access=registration}}
* Zeichner, Oscar. ''Connecticut's Years of Controversy, 1750–1776'' (1949)
===Specialized studies===
* Buell, Richard Jr. ''Dear Liberty: Connecticut's Mobilization for the Revolutionary War'' (1980), major scholarly study
* {{Cite book |last=Bushman, Richard L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMgHkGUo_8IC |title=From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order in Connecticut, 1690–1765 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1970 |isbn=9780674029125}}
* Collier, Christopher. ''Roger Sherman's Connecticut: Yankee Politics and the American Revolution'' (1971)
* Daniels, Bruce Colin. ''The Connecticut town: Growth and development, 1635–1790'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1979)
* Daniels, Bruce C. "Democracy and Oligarchy in Connecticut Towns-General Assembly Office holding, 1701-1790" ''[[Social Science Quarterly]]'' (1975) 56#3 pp: 460–475.
* Fennelly, Catherine. ''Connecticut women in the Revolutionary era'' (Connecticut bicentennial series) (1975) 60pp
* Grant, Charles S. ''Democracy in the Connecticut Frontier Town of Kent'' (1970)
* Hooker, Roland Mather. ''The Colonial Trade of Connecticut'' (1936) online; 44pp
* {{Cite book |last=Lambert, Edward Rodolphus |url=https://archive.org/details/historycolonyne00lambgoog |title=History of the Colony of New Haven: Before and After the Union with Connecticut. Containing a Particular Description of the Towns which Composed that Government, Viz., New Haven, Milford, Guilford, Branford, Stamford, & Southold, L. I., with a Notice of the Towns which Have Been Set Off from "the Original Six." |publisher=Hitchcock & Stafford |year=1838}}
* Main, Jackson Turner. ''Connecticut Society in the Era of the American Revolution'' (pamphlet in the Connecticut bicentennial series) (1977)
* Pierson, George Wilson. ''History of Yale College'' (vol 1, 1952) scholarly history
* Selesky Harold E. ''War and Society in Colonial Connecticut'' (1990) 278 pp.
* Taylor, John M. ''The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut, 1647–1697'' (1969) [https://www.questia.com/library/1555487/the-witchcraft-delusion-in-colonial-connecticut-1647-1697 online]
* {{Cite book |last=Trumbull, James Hammond |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B18EAAAAYAAJ |title=The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633–1884 |publisher=E. L. Osgood |year=1886}}, 700pp
===Historiography===
* Daniels, Bruce C. "Antiquarians and Professionals: The Historians of Colonial Connecticut", ''Connecticut History'' (1982), 23#1, pp 81–97.
* Meyer, Freeman W. "The Evolution of the Interpretation of Economic Life in Colonial Connecticut", ''Connecticut History'' (1985) 26#1 pp 33–43.
== External links ==
{{Commons category|Colony of Connecticut}}
* [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/mb?c=855228657;a=listsrch;q1=Connecticut;sort=rel_d;pn=1 Published colonial records]
::'''Archival collections'''
* [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0m3nc472/ Guide to the Connecticut Colony Land Deeds.] Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
::'''Other'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121111213722/http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu/ Colonial Connecticut Records: The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636–1776]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~randall/connecticut-bdm-identifier.html Colonial Connecticut Town Nomenclature]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130201210620/http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1980/cthistory/80.ch.02.x.html Connecticut Constitutionalism, 1639–1789]
* [http://www.colonialwarsct.org/timeline.htm Timeline of Colonial Connecticut History]
{{Thirteen Colonies}}
{{British overseas territories}}
{{Portal bar|British Empire|Connecticut|Monarchy|North America}}<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add "Portal:United States" as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:States and territories established in 1636]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1776]]
[[Category:1636 establishments in Connecticut]]
[[Category:1776 disestablishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:Connecticut Colony| ]]
[[Category:Colonial settlements in North America]]
[[Category:Colonial United States (British)]]
[[Category:Dominion of New England]]
[[Category:English colonization of the Americas]]
[[Category:Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas]]
[[Category:Former English colonies]]
[[Category:Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Former Christian states]]
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