Which document set up Connecticut’s system of self-government and representative government in 1639?

Which document set up Connecticut’s system of self-government and representative government in 1639?

• A. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
• B. Mayflower Compact
• C. Articles of Confederation
• D. Magna Carta

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that Connecticut’s system of self-government and representative government was established by the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, adopted in 1639. These orders created a written framework in which free men could elect representatives to a General Court and a governor could be chosen to oversee the laws, laying out how laws would be made and how the government would operate. This is why it’s the best answer: it directly codifies a representative form of government and a framework for self-rule in Connecticut at that time, making it a pioneering early constitutional document in North America. The other documents don’t fit this specific Connecticut context: the Mayflower Compact was an earlier self-government agreement in Plymouth, not Connecticut; the Magna Carta is a medieval English charter limiting the king’s power; and the Articles of Confederation came much later to govern the new United States, not Connecticut in 1639.

The main idea here is that Connecticut’s system of self-government and representative government was established by the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, adopted in 1639. These orders created a written framework in which free men could elect representatives to a General Court and a governor could be chosen to oversee the laws, laying out how laws would be made and how the government would operate. This is why it’s the best answer: it directly codifies a representative form of government and a framework for self-rule in Connecticut at that time, making it a pioneering early constitutional document in North America. The other documents don’t fit this specific Connecticut context: the Mayflower Compact was an earlier self-government agreement in Plymouth, not Connecticut; the Magna Carta is a medieval English charter limiting the king’s power; and the Articles of Confederation came much later to govern the new United States, not Connecticut in 1639.