tnote y: Code of 1650, p. 96.]

[Footnote z: "New England's Memorial," p. 316. See Appendix, E.]

These errors are no doubt discreditable to human reason; they attest the
inferiority of our nature, which is incapable of laying firm hold upon
what is true and just, and is often reduced to the alternative of two
excesses. In strict connection with this penal legislation, which bears
such striking marks of a narrow sectarian spirit, and of those religious
passions which had been warmed by persecution and were still fermenting
among the people, a body of political laws is to be found, which, though
written two hundred years ago, is still ahead of the liberties of
our age. The general principles which are the groundwork of modern
constitutions--principles which were imperfectly known in Europe, and
not completely triumphant even in Great Britain, in the seventeenth
century--were all recognized and determined by the laws of New England:
the intervention of the people in public affairs, the free voting of
taxes, the responsibility of authorities, personal liberty, and trial
by jury, were all positively established without discussion. From these
fruitful principles consequences have been derived and applications have
been made such as no nation in Europe has yet ventured to attempt.

In Connecticut the electoral body consisted, from its origin, of the
whole number of citizens; and this is readily to be understood, *a when
we recollect that this people enjoyed an almost perfect equality of
fortune, and a still greater uniformity of opinions. *b In Connecticut,
at this period, all the executive functionaries were elected, including
the Governor of the State. *c The citizens above the age of sixteen were
obliged to bear arms; they formed a national militia, which appointed
its own officers, and was to hold itself at all times in readiness to
march for the defence of the country. *d

[Footnote a: Constitution of 1638, p. 17.]

[Footnote b: In 1641 the General Assembly of Rhode Island unanimously
declared that the government of the State was a democracy, and that the
power was vested in the body of free citizens, who alone had the right
to make the laws and to watch their execution.--Code of 1650, p. 70.]

[Footnote c: "Pitkin's History," p. 47.]

[Footnote d: Constitution of 1638, p. 12.]

In the laws of Connecticut, as well as in all those of New England,
we find the germ and gradual development of that township independenc