Rare "Address to the People of the State of Connecticut," the Report of Delegates from 97 Towns Who Met to Call for a Democratic Non-Theocratic State Constitution

CONNECTICUT

Published by New Haven, CT, 1804

About this Item

Address to the People of the State of Connecticut, broadsheet, August 29, 1804, New Haven, CT. Signed in type by William Judd, Chairman. 2 pp., 10 1/2 x 18 in. An important document in American constitutional and religious history."Excellent as may appear the government of Connecticut to those, who have administered it. yet to us. it has been and is an unequal government, constantly tending to the increase of aristocracies and to the consequent humiliation of men and principles, friendly to our revolution. The government is indeed good for those, who have enjoyed all power and privileges under it."Three months earlier, Abraham Bishop gave an oration celebrating the re-election of President Jefferson. In it, he argued that the Declaration of Independence made the 1662 Royal Charter void, and that Connecticut's General Assembly had "usurped the rights of the people" by preventing the passage of a State Constitution. "Thus all the abuses inflicted on us when subjects of a crown, were fastened on us anew. We still suffer from the old restrictions on the right to vote; we are still ruled by the whims of seven men. Not only do they make laws, but they plead before justices of their own appointment, and . interpret the laws of their own making. Is this an instrument of government for freemen? We demand a constitution."On August 29, 1804, responding to Bishop's call for a gathering in New-Haven to discuss replacing King Charles II's Charter, delegates from 97 towns met, and adopted and ordered the printing of this Address. The Federalist-Congregationalist governing party reacted by warning that everyone should fear these radical Jeffersonian Democratic Republican underminers of all religion. "All the friends of stable government [should] support the Standing Order,"they said, as the five state justices who attended the meeting, including its chairman, were fired. The harsh reaction of Church and State government actually proved the point of the Address. But it still took the War of 1812, the trial of journalists and other political enemies by partisan judges, culture wars as the officially established Congregational church become more fundamentalist (ie, a "Society for the Suppression of Vice and the Promotion of Good Morals," ultimately causing many members to fly from the church of eternal damnation to less Calvinist denominations), the foundation of a Toleration Party that voted with Republicans, the collapse of the national Federalist Party, and the "Revolution of 1817" before succeeding. Fourteen years after this Address, a new Constitution that dis-established the Congregational Church and created separate executive, legislative and judicial branches in the "Constitution State." Excerpts'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.In a perfect state of society (were such possible) we should need no constitution, but universal experience has shewn the insecurity of trusting mere men to set bounds to their own power. Private interest, ambition or temper may tempt the legislator to sudden and dangerous exercises of power, but a constitution is to the people a permanent shelter and defence. As our situation now is, what one legislature does may be revoked by the next, but what the people do in their collective capacity is done permanently for every man and cannot be revoked in haste or without the full consent of the people.-If a constitution shall declare taxation and representation inseparable, the legislator cannot separate them with his breath. / If a constitution shall give permanence and independence to judges, the legislator cannot make judges annually dependent on his will. . (See website for full description).

Seller Inventory # 26603.99

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rare "Address to the People of the State of Connecticut," the Report of Delegates from 97 Towns Who Met to Call for a Democratic Non-Theocratic State Constitution
• Publisher: New Haven, CT
• Publication Date: 1804
• Binding: No binding
• Condition: Very Good
• Book Type: Broadsheet
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  • History