[3] A few young men without families set off to spend the winter there, including Nicholas Phillips, Ezekiel Holliman, and likely Ralph Shepard, John Rogers, Lambert Genere, Joseph Shaw, and the Morses.
[14] As the Covenant stipulated that "for the better manifestation of our true resolution herein, every man so received into the town is to subscribe hereunto his name, thereby obliging both himself and his successors after him forever.
"[12] They swore they would "in the fear and reverence of our Almighty God, mutually and severally promise amongst ourselves and each to profess and practice one truth according to that most perfect rule, the foundation whereof is ever lasting love.
"[12] They also agreed that "we shall by all means labor to keep off from us all such as are contrary minded, and receive only such unto us as may be probably of one heart with us, [and such] as that we either know or may well and truly be informed to walk in a peacable conversation with all meekness of spirit, [this] for the edification of each other in the knowledge and faith of the Lord Jesus ..."[15] It was not to be a theocracy, however, as colonial law prohibited clergy from serving as civil officers.
[15] Every signer of the Covenant was required to tell all he knew of the other men and if a lie was uncovered the man who spoke it would be instantly excluded from town.
[10] While great effort was taken to ensure disagreements were resolved before they grew into disputes,[17] the covenant also stipulated that differences would be submitted to between one and four other members of the town for resolution.
The founders of Dedham had met to discuss the policies of their new community even before the General Court had defined the nature of town government.
"[27][28] The town meeting created principles to regulate taxation and land distribution; it bought land for town use and forbade the use of it forever to those who could not pay their share within a month; it decided the number of pines each family could cut from the swamp and which families could cover their house with clapboard.
[29]Just as the selectmen did, they enacted bylaws, appointed special committees, and granted small favors to individual residents.
[27] The 1658 requirement reduced the number of voters from 91 to 83 members, and the 1670 increase had a grandfather clause allowing all those who previously were qualified to keep the franchise.
[5] While in many respects Dedham and Massachusetts society resembled England, the franchise was more widespread in the colony than it was in the mother country, as were the powers of local elected officials.
[37] John Ellis attended meetings in Watertown but his name does not appear in the records as an attendee for nearly two years after moving to Dedham.
[38][39] The whole town would gather regularly to conduct public affairs, but it was "found by long experience that the general meeting of so many men ... has wasted much time to no small damage and business is thereby nothing furthered.
"[24][28][39] In response, on May 3, 1639, seven selectmen were chosen "by general consent" and given "full power to contrive, execute and perform all the business and affairs of this whole town.
[39] Four of them, Edward Allen, Eleazer Lusher, John Luson, Robert Hinsdale, were founding members of the church.
[39] John Bachelor didn't have a direct link to Allin, but was probably elected due to his previously serving as a selectman in Watertown in 1636.
[39] The leaders they chose "were men of proven ability who were known to hold the same values and to be seeking the same goals as their neighbors" and they were "invested with great authority.
[43] In theory, the selectmen shared the power to appoint men to positions with the Town Meeting but they retained "a strong initiative" to act on their own.
[44] If a man served three terms and met with the satisfaction of the community, he tended to stay on the board for many years following.
[46] Throughout the 17th century the selectmen, "particularly those elected again and again for ten or twenty years, owned considerably more land than the average citizen.
[27] However, "its theoretical powers were for the most part symbolic" and "[f]ormal review of the acts and accounts of the executive was sporadic and at best perfunctory.
[32][56] In fact, the Meeting would often refer issues to the Selectmen to act upon[32] or to "prepare and ripen the answer" to a difficult question.
[27][56] The Meeting would occasionally vote on the actions of the Selectmen, and choose to either approve or disapprove of them,[27] but never overturned a substantive decision made by the board.
[56] In the exercise of legislative, appointive, financial, judicial, and administrative power, the selectmen were the superior of town meeting.
[58] In the late 1600s and early 1700s, Town Meeting began to assert more authority and fewer decisions were left to the judgment of the selectmen.
[66] During the same time period, Town Meeting began appointing officials to handle duties that were previously left to the selectmen.
[63] Town Meeting also began writing and adopting by-laws, taking back a practice that had long been left to the selectmen.
[63] By taking on small tasks, like granting favors to residents, and large ones, like deciding to expand the meetinghouse, the town meeting demonstrated a lack of confidence in their leaders.
[53] A group of notable clergy from around the colony, including Dedham's John Allin, wrote a petition to the General Court in 1671 complaining that the lawmakers were contributing to anti-clerical sentiment.
[77] They asked for the General Court to endorse the authority of the clergy in spiritual matters, which by implication included the half-way covenant.