Thomas Hooker

Thomas Hooker (born probably July 7, 1586, Markfield, Leicestershire, England—died July 7, 1647, Hartford, Connecticut [U.S.]) was a prominent British American colonial clergyman known as “the father of Connecticut.” Seeking independence from other Puritan sects in Massachusetts, Thomas Hooker and his followers established one of the first major colonies in Hartford, Connecticut. A staunch supporter of universal Christian suffrage (voting rights independent of church membership), Hooker was a renowned theologian and orator who greatly shaped the early development of colonial New England.

After preaching briefly in the parish of Esher in Surrey, England, Hooker became lecturer to the Church of St. Mary at Chelmsford, Essex, around 1626, where he delivered fervent evangelical addresses. Such church lectureships, an innovation of Puritanism, came under attack from the Church of England in 1629, and in 1630 Hooker was cited to appear before the Court of High Commission. He fled to Holland, forfeiting his bond, and in 1633 immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony. At New Towne (now Cambridge), he became the pastor of a company of Puritans who had arrived from England the previous year; in expectation of his joining them, they had been called Mr. Hooker’s Company. Hooker and his supporters became restive under the influence of John Cotton, and in 1636 Hooker led a group to Connecticut to settle Hartford, where he served as pastor until his death.

Critical of limiting suffrage to male church members with property, Hooker sought a more-universal suffrage and told the Connecticut General Court in 1638 that the people had the God-given right to choose their magistrates. Though his view was an advanced one for his time and led some historians to call him “the father of American democracy,” Hooker had no intention of separating church and state; he declared that the privilege of voting should be exercised according to the will of God. He was active in formulating the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639), which later helped shape aspects of the Constitution of the United States of America. In matters of church governance, Hooker preferred the more-autonomous Congregational model to the hierarchical structure of Presbyterianism and defended his views in A Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline (1648).