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Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding speaker and a leader of universal Christian suffrage. 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, one of the first settlers and founders of both the city of Hartford and the state of Connecticut, and cited by many as the inspiration for the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut," cited by some as the world's first written democratic constitution that established a representative government.〔Following the Rev. Hooker’s sermon in which he declared, “The foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people,” the Fundamental Orders were adopted by the colony of Connecticut on January 14, 1639 (by New Style reckoning). While some modern historians dispute the claim that this was the first constitution in the western democratic tradition, neither the Mayflower Compact nor the Narragansett communities agreements established any forms of government. Furthermore, former Connecticut Chief Justice Simeon E. Baldwin upheld the claim in Norris Osborn’s History of Connecticut in Monographic Form, declaring that “never had a company of men deliberately met to frame a social compact for immediate use, constituting a new and independent commonwealth, with definite officers, executive and legislative, and prescribed rules and modes of government, until the first planters of Connecticut came together for their great work on January 14th, 1638-9.” Drafted primarily by Roger Ludlow, it was clearly the first compact between a government and the people to uphold the Rev. Hooker’s proclamation that the foundation of constitutional authority was with the people. Ref: Osborn, Norris Galpin, Editor, ''History of Connecticut in Monographic Form'' (States History Co., 1925); Hooker, John, ''An Account of the Reunion of the Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker'' (The Salem Press, 1890), p. 27; Logan, Walter Seth, ''Thomas Hooker, the First American Democrat'' (The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, 1904), p. 19; Lutz, Donald S., Stephen L. Schechter & Richard B. Bernstein, ''Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted'', p. 24; CT.gov, The Official State of Connecticut Website Most likely coming out of the county of Leicestershire, in the East Midlands region, the Hooker family was prominent at least as far back as the reign of Henry VIII. There is known to have been a great Hooker family in Devon (colloquially called Devonshire, in the middle of the southwestern peninsula), well known throughout Southern England. The Devon branch produced the great theologian and clergyman, the Rev. Richard Hooker who, with Sir Walter Raleigh, was one of the two most influential sons of Exeter, the county town of Devon. Family genealogist Edward Hooker linked the Rev. Thomas to the Rev. Richard and the Devon branch. Other Hooker genealogists, however, have traced the Rev. Thomas back to Leicestershire where, in fact, he is said to have been born. Positive evidence linking Thomas to Leicestershire is lacking since the Marefield parish records from before 1610 perished. Any link to the Rev. Richard is likewise lacking since the Rev. Thomas’s personal papers were disposed of and his house destroyed after his death. There remains no evidence giving positive information as to which region Hooker came from, so the issue remains unsettled.〔Hooker, Edward, “The Origin and Ancestry of Rev. Thomas Hooker,@ a paper prepared by Commander Edward Hooker, U.S.N., and read before the Hooker gathering, August, 1892, ''The New England Historical and Genealogical Register'', by New England Historic Genealogical Society Staff (Heritage Books, 1997), pp. 189–192; The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 44, by New England Historic Genealogical Society Staff (N.E. Historic Genealogical Society, 1890), pp. 397–398; Hooker, Margaret Huntington, “Introduction,” Hooker, Edward W., ''The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker: Hartford, Connecticut, 1586–1908'', p. ix; Porter, Alice, “Thomas Hooker,” ''Connecticut Magazine'', July–August 1906 ==Life== Thomas Hooker was likely born at Marefield or Birstall, Leicestershire, and went to school at Market Bosworth. In March 1604, he entered Queen's College, Cambridge as a scholarship student.〔Van Dusen, Albert "Connecticut" Random House, 1961, p.11〕 He received his Bachelor of Arts from Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1608, continuing there to earn his Master of Arts in 1611.〔 He stayed at Emmanuel as a fellow for a few years.〔 After his stay at Emmanuel, Hooker preached at the Esher parish sometime between 1618-20, where he earned a reputation as an excellent speaker.〔〔 and became famous for his pastoral care of Mrs. Joan Drake, a depressive whose stages of spiritual regeneration became a model for his later theological thinking. While associated with the Drake household, he also met and married Susannah Garbrand, Mrs. Drake's woman-in-waiting (April 3, 1621) in Amersham, Mrs. Drake's own birthplace.〔''Thomas Hooker, Writings in England and Holland, 1626-1633.'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1975), p.7.〕 Around 1626, Hooker became a lecturer or preacher at what was then St. Mary's parish church, Chelmsford (now the Chelmsford Cathedral) and curate to its rector, John Michaelson.〔 However, in 1629 Archbishop William Laud suppressed church lecturers, and Hooker was forced to retire to Little Baddow.〔 His leadership of Puritan sympathizers brought him a summons to the Court of High Commission. Forfeiting his bond, Hooker fled to Rotterdam (the Netherlands,〔 and for a time considered a position in the English reformed church in Amsterdam, as assistant to its senior paster, the Rev. John Paget.〔''Thomas Hooker, Writings in England and Holland, 1626-1633.'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1975), p.25.〕 From Holland, after a final clandestine trip to England to put his affairs in order,〔''Thomas Hooker, Writings in England and Holland, 1626-1633.'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1975), p.33 ''et passim''.〕 he immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony aboard the ''Griffin''.〔 Hooker arrived in Boston and settled in Newtown (later renamed Cambridge), where he became the pastor of the earliest established church there, known to its members as "The Church of Christ at Cambridge." 〔''Records of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New England: 1632-1830,'' Boston, MA: Putnam, 1906).〕 His congregation, some of whom may have been members of congregations he had served in England,〔Williams, G.H., ''Thomas Hooker, Writings in England and Holland, 1626-1633.'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1975), p. 33.〕 became known as "Mr. Hooker's Company".〔 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. Hooker disagreed with this limitation of suffrage, putting him at odds with the influential pastor John Cotton. Owing to his conflict with Cotton and discontented with the suppression of Puritan suffrage and at odds with the colony leadership,〔 Hooker and the Rev. Samuel Stone led a group of about 100 who, in 1636, founded the settlement of Hartford, named for Stone’s place of birth: Hertford, in England.〔Walker, George Leon, ''Thomas Hooker: Preacher, Founder, Democrat'' (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1891), p. 97; Allen, Morse S., & Arthur H. Hughes, Connecticut Place Names (The Connecticut Historical Society, 1976), p. 234; Gross, Governor Wilbur L., Sponsor, Connecticut, American Guide Series by Workers of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Connecticut (The Riverside Press, 1938), p. 169.〕 This led to the founding of the Connecticut Colony.〔 Hooker became more active in politics in Connecticut. 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."〔Hooker, Thomas, Lecture delivered at the First Church, Hartford, Connecticut, on May 31, 1638, quoted in Walker, George Leon, Thomas Hooker: Preacher, Founder, Democrat, p. 125; and Trumbull, Benjamin, A Complete History of Connecticut, Vol. I (Maltby, Goldsmith and Co., and Samuel Wadsworth, 1818, and Arno Press, 1972), pp. 20–21.〕 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. It marked the beginnings of American democracy, of which Thomas Hooker deserves more than any other man to be called the father. 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."〔Fiske, John, ''Beginnings of New England, or the Puritan Theocracy in Its Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty'' (Houghton Mifflin Company, the Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1889), pp. 127–28.〕 In recognition of this, on the wall of the narrow alleyway just outside the grounds near the Chelmsford Cathedral in Chelmsford, Essex, England, where he was town lecturer and curate, there is a Blue Plaque fixed high on the wall of the narrow alleyway, opposite the south porch, that reads: "Thomas Hooker, 1586 - 1647, Curate at St. Mary’s Church and Chelmsford Town Lecturer 1626-29. Founder of the State of Connecticut, Father of American Democracy."〔The Cathedral Church of St Mary, St Peter, and St Cedd, Chelmsford, England, a center of worship and mission; Brief History 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Hooker」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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