Connecticut

**__ Geography: __** Connecticut is a state in the New England area that borders the states of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. The state can be divided up into five regions including the Northwest Highlands, Northern Uplands, Northern Hills, Southern Hills, and Coastal Hardwoods. It is bisected by the Connecticut River, its fertile agriculture valley, and the surrounding Berkshire Mountains. The northern part of the state is made up mostly of rugged mountains, lush valleys, and rolling hills. This part of the state is covered by mostly forest and is the least populated compared to the southern part of the state. This allowed for wild animal and plant life to remain abundant and is home to countless animals that have been hunted for their fur. The state has more than 6,000 lakes, ponds, and rivers. Some rivers include the Thames, Housantonic, Naugatuck and Connecticut rivers. Connecticut is about five hundred feet above see level and in addition, also has about six hundred and eighteen miles of shore line that include the Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. This coastline has allowed for many small natural harbors and inlets to form. The climate of this state is typical of numerous states in the New England area and approximately every year, receives anywhere from around forty to fifty inches or rainfall. The winter season is somewhat lengthy but not too cold and bitter while, on the other hand, the summer is somewhat lengthy and hot. On occasion, the northern part of the state can get up to ten degrees cooler than the southern part of the state during different seasons of the year. The growing season is fairly long in the state with the first killing frost usually in mid October and the last in mid April. The growing season, along with moderate rainfall has made Connecticut provide good growing conditions.
 * // Connecticut //**  By: Joseph Mattesi & Caroline Eicher

**__History:__** Connecticut was originally inhabited by sixteen groups of Algonquian Indians and they were generally peaceful hunters, gatherers, and farmers. However, a tribe known as the Pequot’s entered into the region from the Hudson River region and began to conquer large amounts of territory by using force. Much later in the early seventeenth century, the Indians suffered from a massive smallpox epidemic that killed thousands of Native Americans. When the first Europeans arrived in the region, they were welcomed by the natives who wanted to make allies with them in order to fight off other Native American groups. The Indians sold land to the English and provided them with instructions in the New World agricultural, hunting, and fishing techniques. Unfortunately, the impact of the English settlers was devastating as Indians lost their land, were made dependents in their own territory and were sickened/killed by diseases such as smallpox and measles. Between the years of 1630 to 1642, about 20,000 Puritans crossed the Atlantic Ocean to reach New England. They stated that salvation could only be achieved by returning to the simplicity of the Christian church and they wanted to establish a new society that could serve as a model for other Christians. One of the earliest settlements in the region came in 1636 when a small group of Europeans and the Reverend Thomas Hooker settled in the Connecticut River Valley. They came from Massachusetts in hope of seeking better farming land and a less rigid form of government. Thomas Hooker was a Puritan who founded the town of Hartford which became a thriving community due to the rich agricultural land. In the year of 1638, Hooker preached about a more democratic form of government than practiced in Massachusetts. In addition, another colony was founded in 1638 on the coast in which merchants hoped to profit on trade between the Native Americans and the Dutch in New Amsterdam and it became known as New Haven. In the following year, three communities including Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford joined together to form the colony of Connecticut. During the same year, the idea of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut served for the colony’s governance for the next century and a half. In the early 1700's, the British government allowed its colonies freedom to govern themselves as colonists recognized the authority of the king and parliament without having to be forced to. In addition, the British had no problem as the colonies already served for Britains interests. This became know as **salutary neglect** and Connecticut was just one of the colonies that was affected by this occurence. Shortly after in the 1730's, Reverend Jonathan Edwards led a religious revival in Massachusetts and it became know as the **Great Awakening**. Over the next decade, the ideas of this man spread into the Connecticut river valley and it led to a serious division throughout Connecticuts Congregational churches. The seperation led to the new lights who participated in the revival and the old lights who were traditional colonists and were overall more conservative. The idea of this awakening was to renew religious enthusiasm and commitment as many ministers felt that colonists had fell away from the faith of their Puritan ancestors.

** __Economics__ **
Connecticut for the most part had a strong economy, but was unable to support its population by farming. The area was not known for good farmland, so the people in Connecticut had to find different nonagricultural ways to support the population. New England flourished instead with fishing, shipbuilding, lumbering, fur trading and by trading goods with Europe.The principle form of commerce in Connecticut was shipbuilding and whaling. Shipbuilding and whaling were major industries in the 1840s and 1850s. New London ranked behind only New Bedford and Nantucket among the US whaling ports. In the little farming that was done, tobacco was farmed and became a cash crop becasue it made alot of money for the colony. The British developed a concept called mercantilism which guarenteed that the colonies would be benefiting the mother country. The concpet was based on the premise that national wealth and power were best served by increaseing exports and collecting precious metals in return. The British made sure that all the trade with the colonies passed through the home country. Also, Connecticut has also been a leader of the insurance industry since the 1790s. Along with shipbuilding and whaling, Connecticut was part of the Triangle Trade. The famous Triangle Trade occurred in the New England colonies. Slaves were sold in the West Indies for molasses,and then was sent to New England to make rum. The rum was then sent back to Africa to trade for slaves. Another important factor of the Connecticut economy was the use of slavery. The number of African American slaves significantly grew between 1700 and 1775. The enslaved Africans were relied on to help meet the growing demands of the colony.
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Triangle_trade2.png width="303" height="147" align="left" caption="Triangular Trade"]] ||

__** Social **__
Most of the colonists were very devout Congregationalists. Many families would pray and read from the Bible in their homes. Every Sunday the families would go to church and worship. Educational patterns, business practices, social conduct, and sexual activities were all effected by the Puritan principles. "Blue Laws" provided penalties for offenses against God's word. Connecticut authorities harassed and often persecuted such non-Congregationalists as Quakers, Baptists, and Anglicans. Being that Connecticut was an english colony, the main language spoken was English. Women in colonial Connecticut lived under English law, with its tradition of female subordination. Single women had property rights and some public rights, but married women were limited in their freedom by the concept of coverture. When a woman got married, her legal existence merged with her husbands. Her property, inheritance, and any wages she earned legally became her husband's. A woman could not sign contracts or sue in courts. Also, a woman’s children were under her husband's control, and she could not easily escape a bad marriage by divorce. This is because it was believed that no human law could end the marriage of to people joined together by god.

**__Politics__**
Connecticut became one of the thirteen colonies in the year of 1662 and became the fifth state in the Union on January 9, 1788. The people of Connecticut occupied their land for many years without any title to it. But it was Winthrop who secured a royal charter for Connecticut from Charles II, The only retriction was that the laws should not conflict with the laws of England. Connecticut's major political groups during the first half of the 19th century were the Federalist Party, the Democratic-Republican coalition, the Democrats, and the Whigs. The Whig Party collapsed during the controversy over slavery in the 1850s, when the Republican Party emerged as the principal opposition to the Democrats.

__**The American Revolution**__

Leading up to the Revolution, Connecticut colonists continued their opposition to Britains increased interference in trade. The colony became known as the "provision state" as the continental army was supplied with livestock, grain, guns, and gunpowder from the state. Although the colony had involvment in the war, there was extremely little active fighting that actually occured in Connecticut. However, there were a couple of significant events during the American Revolution that involved Connecticut. The most important were the landing of a British invasion force in Westport, Connecticut which then marched to and burnt the city of Danbury for safeguarding patriot supplies. The invasion force was engaged by General David Wooster and General Benedict Arnold on their return in the Battle of Ridgefield in 1777. This would lead to the future strategic landing attempts by the British for the remainder of the war. General William Tryon raided the Connecticut coast in July 1779. He focused on New Haven, Norwalk, and Fairfield. The French General the Comte de Rochambeau lead the first catholic mass in Connecticut 1781 while marching through the state from Rhode island to “rendezvous” with General Gearge Washington in Dobbs Ferry. New London and Groton Heights were raided in September 1781 by Connecticut native Benedict Arnold.

The French and Indian War was a long struggle among the French, British, and numerous Native Americans living in the Eastern United States. The British claimed land along the eastern sea coast while the French claimed land west of the Appalachian Mountains. There were a number of causes for the war including desire for land in the Ohio river valley, a number of french ports in and around Pennsylvania, fishing rights, warring Indian allies, fear of France taking control of the Spanish throne and so on. Connecticut was just one of the colonies involved in the center of this conflict. Overall, about 20,000 Connecticut men were mobilized to fight in the war which was about one out of every five men living in the colony of Connecticut. The Connecticut soldiers were credited for help building port William Henry on lake George and also taking strong action in an offensive against Fort Louisburg. In addition to fighting in the war, the people of Connecticut gave the British troops flour, beef, wheat, pork and other necesities to survive. A man named Phineas T. Lyman commanded about 1000 Connecticut soldiers and in the year 1759, they helped the British capture the French fort at Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain.
 * __The French & Indian War (Seven Years War)__**

1) "Connecticut." American History. ABC-Clio,2010. Web 27 Sept.2010. [] 2) "Connecticut: History." United States Geography. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 23 Sept.2010. [] 3) [|www.usahistory.info] > New England
 * Bibliography:**