The Constitution State’s bicentennial?

Connecticut is the Constitution State. The General Assembly adopted it as the official motto in 1959. Unofficially, the motto goes back to the beginning of the last century. Debate swirled about how best to highlight the state’s achievements at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The commissioners, appointed by the governor, deemed the older designation of Connecticut as the Nutmeg State inappropriate. Thus, for fairgoers, Connecticut was the Constitution State.

Important in the emergence of Connecticut as the Constitution State was John Fiske’s 1887 work, The Beginnings of New England. Fiske argued that the1639 Fundamental Orders was “the first written constitution known to history” and “that government of the United States to-day is a lineal descendant.” Fiske also recounted the story of the Charter Oak where in 1687 Joseph Wadsworth hid Connecticut’s 1662 Royal Charter and how the Connecticut Compromise was instrumental in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. Connecticut, a small state in an America that was now a continental nation and imperial power, could take pride in playing a central role at the creation.

But does Connecticut deserve to be called the Constitution State? In 1818, the General Assembly approved a call for a constitutional convention. Voters in each town gathered on the Fourth of July to elect delegates. From late August to the middle of September, the delegates met at the Old State House in Hartford to draft a constitution. On the first Monday in October, by a small margin, voters approved Connecticut’s first Constitution.

The events of 1818 were the climax of almost two decades of debate. Argument over Connecticut’s government came with the emergence of political parties. The supporters of Thomas Jefferson in the state argued that Connecticut lacked a Constitution. A true constitution drew its authority from the people, just like the United States Constitution which was ordained by “We the People.” Federalists argued that Connecticut had a constitution. For the better part of two centuries under the Fundamental Orders and the 1662 Charter, Connecticut had grown, prospered, and won independence from England. The frequent elections demonstrated popular satisfaction with the state’s system of government. As long as Federalists controlled state government, there was no constitutional convention.

Following the War of 1812, Connecticut voters decided the issue. Federalists lost control of state government. In 1817, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., was elected governor on the Toleration Party ticket. By spring 1818, now also in control of the Assembly, Tolerationists called the constitutional convention, rejecting the idea that Connecticut already had a constitution.

This year is thus the bicentennial of Connecticut’s first constitution. Hartford’s Old State House is sponsoring a series of lectures on the Constitution (the next one on March 22) and the fall issue of Connecticut Explored will be devoted to it, as will the Association for the Study of Connecticut History’s fall conference. These initiatives and others are designed to foster greater awareness of Connecticut constitutional heritage which still shapes its government.