Called today "the Father of Connecticut", Thomas Hooker was a towering figure in the early development of colonial New England.

He was one of the great preachers of his time, an erudite writer on Christian subjects, the first minister of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the first settlers and founders of both the city of Hartford and the state of Connecticut.

He has been cited by many as the inspiration for the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut", which some have described as the world's first written democratic constitution establishing a representative government.

[4] Hooker was appointed to St George's Church, Esher, Surrey in 1620, where he earned a reputation as an excellent speaker.

Forfeiting his bond, Hooker fled to Rotterdam in the Netherlands,[7] and considered a position in the English Reformed Church, Amsterdam, as assistant to its senior pastor, the Rev.

[9] From the Netherlands, after a clandestine trip to England to put his affairs in order,[10] he immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony aboard the Griffin.

[13] Voting in Massachusetts was limited to freemen, individuals who had been formally admitted to their church after a detailed interrogation of their religious views and experiences.

Owing to his conflict with Cotton, discontented with the suppression of Puritan suffrage, and at odds with the colony leadership,[7] Hooker and the Rev.

The General Court representing Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford met at the end of May 1638 to frame a written constitution in order to establish a government for the commonwealth.

Hooker preached the opening sermon at First Church of Hartford on May 31, declaring that "the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people.

"[17] On January 14, 1639, freemen from these three settlements ratified the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut" in what John Fiske called "the first written constitution known to history that created a government.

The government of the United States today is in lineal descent more nearly related to that of Connecticut than to that of any of the other thirteen colonies.

"[18] In recognition of this, near Chelmsford Cathedral, Essex, England, where Hooker had been town lecturer and curate, there is a blue plaque fixed high on the wall of a narrow alleyway, opposite the south porch, that reads: "Thomas Hooker, 1586–1647, Curate at St. Mary's Church and Chelmsford Town Lecturer 1626–29.

Because there was no known portrait of him, in the 20th century Frances Laughlin Wadsworth used the likenesses of his descendants to sculpt the commissioned statue of Hooker that was erected in 1938 in front of Hartford's Old State House.

Thomas Hooker strongly advocated extended suffrage to include Puritan worshippers, leading him and his followers to colonize Connecticut.

[4] Hooker later published A Survey of the Summed of Church-Discipline in defense of Congregationalism, and applied its principles to politics and government.

Thomas, served as Speaker of the Connecticut Assembly, and previously as Judge of the state supreme court.