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



HE 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 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