Fundamental Orders of Connecticut :: essays papers

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut The British North American colonies were on the cutting edge of governmental systems in their time. They developed confederations and other styles of ruling that greatly differed from the iron fist of the absolutist monarch of Britain. Among these colonies, Connecticut was the forerunner. Among three major towns, Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield, Connecticut formed what is today known as a federalist government. Within Connecticut’s federalism, the ideas of many modern governing techniques were applied, such as a written constitution and popular sovereignty. Because of this, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was a blueprint for the modern day Constitution because it contained a central government linked to local governments, three separate branches of government, and a representative government unlike the one of Britain. The modern day federalism that is applied today is structured like that of the Connecticut federalism. A general court in Hartford acts like a central meeting place like that of present day Washington D.C.. This General court has the ability to rule over the towns of Connecticut, but the locals of a town may provide input to their public officer and he can provide the central court with this information. The general court is not to be mistaken as an absolute rule. An example is found in section 11 of the Fundamental Orders. The general court may distribute funding to the towns, and they may distribute them as they please. If this was a dictatorship, the general court would tell the local governments how to distribute their funds. The Fundamental Orders established three branches of government like that of the modern day federalism. In section 1 of the Fundamental Orders, an executive office as well as a judicial branch is elected. The person with the most votes becomes the governor, and the next six runners up would hold positions as magistrates in the general court. The representative branch is established in section two where it is stated that the next runners up to the magistrates shall be the public officers to the people of their town. These three branches of government are exactly the same in present day, but how they are elected and appointed to their position is the only difference. The idea and structure of the representative government is the most evident similarity between the U.S. Constitution and the Fundamental Orders.