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Este documento costuma ser considerado como a primeira Constituição escrita, porque através dele foi estabelecido um governo com base no livre consentimento do povo.
For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the
wise disposition of his divine providence so to order and dispose of things
that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield are
now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connectecotte and the lands
thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the
word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people
there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God,
to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion
shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one Public
State or Commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors and such as
shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into Combination and
Confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the
Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also, the discipline of the
Churches, which according to the truth of the said Gospel is now practiced
amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to
such Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees as shall be made, ordered, and decreed as
followeth:
1. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that there
shall be yearly two General Assemblies or Courts, the one the second Thursday
in April, the other the second Thursday in September following; the first shall
be called the Court of Election, wherein shall be yearly chosen from time to
time, so many Magistrates and other public Officers as shall be found
requisite: Whereof one to be chosen Governor for the year ensuing and until
another be chosen, and no other Magistrate to be chosen for more than one year:
provided always there be six chosen besides the Governor, which being chosen and
sworn according to an Oath recorded for that purpose, shall have the power to
administer justice according to the Laws here established, and for want
thereof, according to the Rule of the Word of God; which choice shall be made
by all that are admitted freemen and have taken the Oath of Fidelity, and do
cohabit within this Jurisdiction having been admitted Inhabitants by the major
part of the Town wherein they live or the major part of such as shall be then
present.
2. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the
election of the aforesaid Magistrates shall be in this manner: every person
present and qualified for choice shall bring in (to the person deputed to
receive them) one single paper with the name of him written in it whom he
desires to have Governor, and he that hath the greatest number of papers shall
be Governor for that year. And the rest of the Magistrates or public officers
to be chosen in this manner: the Secretary for the time being shall first read
the names of all that are to be put to choice and then shall severally nominate
them distinctly, and every one that would have the person nominated to be
chosen shall bring in one single paper written upon, and he that would not have
him chosen shall bring in a blank; and every one that hath more written papers
than blanks shall be a Magistrate for that year; which papers shall be received
and told by one or more that shall be then chosen by the court and sworn to be
faithful therein; but in case there should not be six chosen as aforesaid, besides
the Governor, out of those which are nominated, than he or they which have the
most writen papers shall be a Magistrate or Magistrates for the ensuing year,
to make up the aforesaid number.
3. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the
Secretary shall not nominate any person, nor shall any person be chosen newly
into the Magistracy which was not propounded in some General Court before, to
be nominated the next election; and to that end it shall be lawful for each of
the Towns aforesaid by their deputies to nominate any two whom they conceive
fit to be put to election; and the Court may add so many more as they judge
requisite.
4. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that no
person be chosen Governor above once in two years, and that the Governor be
always a member of some approved Congregation, and formerly of the Magistracy
within this Jurisdiction; and that all the Magistrates, Freemen of this
Commonwealth; and that no Magistrate or other public officer shall execute any
part of his or their office before they are severally sworn, which shall be
done in the face of the court if they be present, and in case of absence by
some deputed for that purpose.
5. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that to the
aforesaid Court of Election the several Towns shall send their deputies, and
when the Elections are ended they may proceed in any public service as at other
Courts. Also the other General Court in September shall be for making of laws,
and any other public occasion, which concerns the good of the Commonwealth.
6. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the
Governor shall, either by himself or by the Secretary, send out summons to the
Constables of every Town for the calling of these two standing Courts one month
at least before their several times: And also if the Governor and the greatest
part of the Magistrates see cause upon any special occasion to call a General
Court, they may give order to the Secretary so to do within fourteen days
warning: And if urgent necessity so require, upon a shorter notice, giving
sufficient grounds for it to the deputies when they meet, or else be questioned
for the same; And if the Governor and major part of Magistrates shall either
neglect or refuse to call the two General standing Courts or either of them, as
also at other times when the occasions of the Commonwealth require, the Freemen
thereof, or the major part of them, shall petition to them so to do; if then it
be either denied or neglected, the said Freemen, or the major part of them,
shall have the power to give order to the Constables of the several Towns to do
the same, and so may meet together, and choose to themselves a Moderator, and
may proceed to do any act of power which any other General Courts may.
7. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that after
there are warrants given out for any of the said General Courts, the Constable
or Constables of each Town, shall forthwith give notice distinctly to the
inhabitants of the same, in some public assembly or by going or sending from
house to house, that at a place and time by him or them limited and set, they
meet and assemble themselves together to elect and choose certain deputies to
be at the General Court then following to agitate the affairs of the
Commonwealth; which said deputies shall be chosen by all that are admitted
Inhabitants in the several Towns and have taken the oath of fidelity; provided
that none be chosen a Deputy for any General Court which is not a Freeman of
this Commonwealth. The aforesaid deputies shall be chosen in manner following:
every person that is present and qualified as before expressed, shall bring the
names of such, written in several papers, as they desire to have chosen for
that employment, and these three or four, more or less, being the number agreed
on to be chosen for that time, that have the greatest number of papers written
for them shall be deputies for that Court; whose names shall be endorsed on the
back side of the warrant and returned into the Court, with the Constable or
Constables’ hand unto the same.
8. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that
Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield shall have power, each Town, to send four
of their Freemen as their deputies to every General Court; and Whatsoever other
Town shall be hereafter added to this Jurisdiction, they shall send so many
deputies as the Court shall judge meet, a reasonable proportion to the number
of Freemen that are in the said Towns being to be attended therein; which
deputies shall have the power of the whole Town to give their votes and
allowance to all such laws and orders as may be for the public good, and unto
which the said Towns are to be bound.
9. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the
deputies thus chosen shall have power and liberty to appoint a time and a place
of meeting together before any General Court, to advise and consult of all such
things as may concern the good of the public, as also to examine their own
Elections, whether according to the order, and if they or the greatest part of
them find any election to be illegal they may seclude such for present from
their meeting, and return the same and their reasons to the Court; and if it be
proved true, the Court may fine the party or parties so intruding, and the
Town, if they see cause, and give out a warrant to go to a new election in a
legal way, either in part or in whole. Also the said deputies shall have power
to fine any that shall be disorderly at their meetings, or for not coming in
due time or place according to appointment; and they may return the said fines
into the Court if it be refused to be paid, and the Treasurer to take notice of
it, and to escheat or levy the same as he does other fines.
10. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that every
General Court, except such as through neglect of the Governor and the greatest part
of the Magistrates the Freemen themselves do call, shall consist of the
Governor, or some one chosen to moderate the Court, and four other Magistrates
at least, with the major part of the deputies of the several Towns legally
chosen; and in case the Freemen, or major part of them, through neglect or
refusal of the Governor and major part of the Magistrates, shall call a Court,
it shall consist of the major part of Freemen that are present or their
deputies, with a Moderator chosen by them: In which said General Courts shall
consist the supreme power of the Commonwealth, and they only shall have power
to make laws or repeal them, to grant levies, to admit of Freemen, dispose of
lands undisposed of, to several Towns or persons, and also shall have power to
call either Court or Magistrate or any other person whatsoever into question
for any misdemeanor, and may for just causes displace or deal otherwise
according to the nature of the offense; and also may deal in any other matter
that concerns the good of this Commonwealth, except the election of
Magistrates, which shall be done by the whole body of Freemen. In which Court
the Governor or Moderator shall have power to order the Court, to give liberty
of speech, and silence unseasonable and disorderly speakings, to put all things
to vote, and in case the vote be equal to have the casting voice. But none of
these Courts shall be adjourned or dissolved without the consent of the major
part of the Court.
11. It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that when
any General Court upon the occasions of the Commonwealth have agreed upon any
sum, or sums of money to be levied upon the several Towns within this
Jurisdiction, that a committee be chosen to set out and appoint what shall be
the proportion of every Town to pay of the said levy, provided the committee be
made up of an equal number out of each Town.
14th January, 1638, the 11 Orders above said are
voted.