The Founder Of American Democracy

The Founder Of American Democracy

When did democracy begin in America?

THE FOUNDER of American democracy was born on July 7, 1586, in Marfield, England. His name was Thomas Hooker. In 1608 he graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, the quintessential Puritan college of its time. Three years later he received a master of arts degree and became a lecturer at the college until 1618. It was during this time that he experienced a transforming spiritual rebirth. He was so excited about what had happened to him that he preached a series of sermons at the college about his conversion.

Later, as a lecturer at the Church of St. Mary in Chelmsford, he attracted attention, both good and bad. Many were drawn to his preaching and became his committed followers. At the same time the hierarchy of the Anglican Church, which at that time was a halfway house between the Reformed Church and the Church of Rome, became his committed opponents. Forced to leave Chelmsford because of his Puritan views, he went to Little Baddow where he began a school with assistance from John Eliot, later the missionary to the American Indians.

In 1629 Hooker was called before the archbishop to answer for his evangelical preaching and nonconformity to the Anglican Church. He was released under a bond of fifty English pounds to force him to appear at a later date before the Court of High Commissioners. A Puritan farmer became surety for him, and a group of Hooker’s friends paid off the farmer. Hooker abandoned the bond and escaped to Holland, where for two years he was an assistant pastor of the English Nonconformist church at Delft.

During this time a group of his former followers from Chelmsford had emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and were known as “Mr. Hooker’s Company.” They encouraged Hooker to follow them to New England. Hooker returned to England and decided to go to Massachusetts Bay, leaving on the same boat in 1633 as John Cotton, who would become teacher of the First Church of Boston and the father of New England Congregationalism.

Hooker became pastor of the church in Newtown (present-day Cambridge), Massachusetts. The church prospered, and its leading member, John Haynes, was elected governor of Massachusetts Bay.

Members of Hooker’s church complained for years that they had insufficient land for farming. Therefore in 1635 they moved to a site along the Connecticut River and named their town Hartford.

Since they were now outside the charter of Massachusetts Bay, they formed their own government, naming their settlement Connecticut. In 1638 the General Court of Connecticut was given the responsibility of drawing up a constitution for Connecticut. The document was called The Fundamental Orders and was the first written constitution in America. As the leader of the Connecticut settlers, Thomas Hooker preached a sermon to the framers of their constitution. He stated that “the foundation of all authority is laid . . . in the free consent of the people” and that “the privilege of election . . . belongs to the people.” This concept was diametrically opposed to the principles undergirding Massachusetts. The leaders there were in total opposition to democracy, whereas Hooker was committed to it. In Massachusetts only church members could vote. In Connecticut suffrage was for all citizens. The seed of democracy had been planted in America.

In 1643 Hooker was a prime mover in organizing the United Colonies of New England, the earliest system of federal government in America. Although he had considerable political influence, above all Thomas Hooker was a faithful expositor of the Bible and one of the most powerful preachers of his generation.

Reflection

Do you believe Hooker or the leaders of Massachusetts were correct on the issue of democracy? America’s founding fathers largely feared democracy and out of that fear created a republic in which final authority rests with democratically elected officials. Does the Bible shed any light as to which is preferable, a pure democracy or a federal (representative) form of government?

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him.

Revelation 19:6-7