Dictionary:
Con·nect·i·cut (kə-nĕt'ĭ-kət) 
|
| 5min Related Video: Connecticut |
| US History Encyclopedia: Connecticut |
Geography
The state of Connecticut covers 5,006 square miles (the third smallest of America's states) and is located in the northeastern United States, with New York a long its western border, Massachusetts to the north, Rhode Island to the east, and the Long Island Sound along its southern coast. Across Long Island Sound is Long Island, part of which once belonged to Connecticut but was ceded to New York. In exchange for Long Island, Connecticut was able to keep its southwestern handle, which jutted into New York and in which the cities of Greenwich, Stamford, and Norwalk are found. This was no simple process. The first agreement in 1664 fell apart because of very bad surveying of the borders. In 1683, commissioners from New York and Connecticut again tried to settle their border dispute, agreeing to trade Connecticut's territory on Long Island for the panhandle, but Connecticut backed out because the borders were again badly drawn, costing it several towns. In 1684, the commissioners finally agreed on the trade of territory and on borders, but their governments continued to bicker over who had what territory.
In 1700, King William III of England confirmed the 1684 agreement as binding, but Connecticut and New York continued to bicker. In 1718, New York tried to restart the whole process, but Connecticut essentially ignored them; New York then declared itself satisfied with the 1684 agreement; in 1723, Connecticut appointed new commissioners to negotiate with New York's commissioners, which appointed new commissioners in 1725, and a new survey was begun but ran out of funding before it was complete. In 1731, it all began again, this time with a complete survey, and then both sides decided to go with the 1684 agreement. Arguments over the border continued almost incessantly, although the trade of the panhandle for Connecticut's Long Island territory was considered official. In 1855, Connecticut restarted official inquiries because markers for the 1684 agreement's border had disappeared and the state's government thought it had been denied northern lands that should belong to it. Commissioners of New York and Connecticut redid the border survey in January 1856, trying to settle where an area called the "Oblong" was located, but the commissioners could not agree on what the survey had found. In 1859, new commissioners met in September in Port Chester, but did not agree on a border. In 1860, New York independently marked the border from the panhandle to Massachusetts as it saw fit. Connecticut complained about this until new commissioners were appointed by both states in 1878, who met in 1878 and 1879, finally agreeing on 5 December 1879 that the 1860 New York line was acceptable where it matched the 1731 line, about which there was still uncertainty because of lost markers. Eventually, both state legislatures ratified the 1860 (based on the 1731) border, and in 1881, the United States Congress confirmed the border. This did stop the states from continuing to bicker over the details for seemingly endless decades thereafter.
Connecticut is shaped in large part like a rectangle and its borders look as though they were planned, but in fact Connecticut owes its shape to about 150 years of wrangling with its neighbors from about 1633 to state-hood in 1776.
Connecticut is split north to south by the Connecticut River, which enters the state from Massachusetts to the north near the town of Enfield, flows south to Middletown, then shifts to a southeasterly direction, eventually flowing into Long Island Sound at the town of Old Saybrook. The Connecticut River is shallow at its mouth, limiting accessibility to ships, but the river itself has served as a highway for people since before the coming of European settlers. The Mohawks probably used it to raid Connecticut tribes just before English colonists arrived in Massachusetts.
Temperatures in Connecticut usually vary from July highs in the low 70s to January highs in the mid-20s. However, severe heat occasionally occurs, with 105 the record high on 22 July 1929 at Waterbury, and lows can be very low indeed, with 32 below zero being the record low, set on 16 February 1943 at Falls Village. Annually, rain and snow combine for about forty-eight inches of precipitation.
The banks of the Connecticut River have been appealing to farmers for their nutrient rich, smooth soil, although during the industrialization of the state, the adjacent land was turned over to mills and other factories that used the flowing water to generate power and to dump waste. The rest of Connecticut's soil is very rocky, and although farmers cleared native forests to create huge tracts of farmland, the rocky terrain makes agriculture a difficult proposition.
Geographers customarily divide Connecticut into four parts: the eastern hill country, the Connecticut River Valley, the western hill country, and the southern coast. Some geographers suggest that the southwestern handle be considered a separate region of Connecticut because of its dense population, starting with the city of Danbury in the north to Stratford in the southeast to Greenwich in the southwest.
The Connecticut River valley has been the center of commerce and political power since colonial times because the river made a good trade route and so the first colonial settlements were established near it. Rivers attracted population elsewhere in Connecticut, although to a lesser extent. The western hill country has always been less populated than other parts of Connecticut, although the city of Waterbury is located on the Naugatuck River. The eastern hill country is most heavily populated along the southern part of the Thames River, where the towns of Norwich and Ledyard are located. Much of the northern part of the eastern hill country has remained heavily forested since prehistoric times.
The Connecticut coast is sometimes referred to as the Gold Coast of Connecticut because of its many seaports and its attractive beaches. Since the late 1600s, Connecticut's ports have been a source of international trade, with Yankee traders sailing far and wide in search of markets and goods. The Connecticut River valley has been a rich source of manufactured goods since the early 1700s and many of them were shipped overseas.
Prehistory
Connecticut was covered by a glacier 11,000 years ago. When this glacier retreated, it scoured the land, leaving many indentations that became lakes and pools that total 146 square miles. A great forest grew after the retreat of the glacier; it became dense with several different species of trees and home to abundant wildlife.
There may be no way to tell when human beings first entered the region of Connecticut because some may have been there before or during the last ice age; if so, the glacier would have obliterated their remains as it retreated. It is likely that at least three waves of culturally diverse Native American groups passed through Connecticut as they explored the North American coastline. It is also possible that none of these groups were the direct ancestors of the Native Americans that colonists found when they began exploring the Connecticut River.
The Narragansetts were in eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. It was a large, politically savvy, and well-organized tribe. In southeastern Connecticut were the Mohegans, and to their west the Pequots. The Mohegans and the Pequots were of the same cultural stock, but they were enemies at the time Europeans arrived. It is possible that a dispute over a sachem, a political leader similar to a chief, led to hostilities between the two tribes.
By 1630, the Pequots and Mohegans were drifting apart in their social organization. The Mohegans had a loose tribal organization in which individual villages looked after their own affairs and tended to be small and far apart. Each village had its own sachem, who selected an overall leader for negotiations with other tribes or for leading the Mohegans into war. The Pequots were more centrally organized, living in large stockades. In the early 1600s, the Mohegans stretched from southern Rhode Island into New York, but the Pequots migrated from the Hudson River valley into western Connecticut to the Connecticut River, displacing the Mohegans west of the river. Both the Mohegans and the Pequots were primarily farmers.
The Sequins (sometimes called the River People or Quinnipiacs) were also farmers who lived along the Connecticut River and had probably been in Connecticut longer than any other group of Native Americans. In addition to farming, the Sequins traded with the Narragansetts and other tribes that lived to the north in what is now Massachusetts. The Sequins gave Connecticut its name, because they called the river Quinnipiac (variously translated as "long tidal river," "long river," and "land along the long river"). The word "Quinnipiac" was transliterated into "Connecticut."
In the early 1600s, the Pequots and Mohegans stopped fighting one another when a new, bigger problem arose as the Mohawk tribe began raiding the tribes in Connecticut. The Mohawks were part of the Iroquoian Five Nations, a well-organized federation of powerful tribes. Their attacks on other Native Americans resulted in burned villages, lost crops, and dead villagers, including children. The Mohawks also captured people for slaves. It was at this time that the English began colonizing Connecticut.
Colonial Era
In 1614, Dutch explorer Adrian Block was shipwrecked on the New England coast. He and his sailors built another ship, but because it was too small for a sea voyage, Block decided to explore the coast. When he found the mouth of the Connecticut River, he sailed into it, eventually meeting the Sequins, who were friendly and willing to trade goods with the sailors.
Windsor, the first English colony in Connecticut, was established in 1633. It was intended to be a trading outpost. Wethersfield was established in 1634 and was populated by farmers and traders. In 1635, Thomas Hooker led about one hundred of his followers from Newtown, Massachusetts, to Hartford. Hooker and his followers were fleeing the oppressive Puritan colonies to the north, and hoped to create a freer society. In 1638 Hooker said, "The foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people." On 14 January 1639, the Fundamental Orders—based on Hooker's ideas about freedom—were adopted. They were a set of rules that limited the scope of the government. Although not fully a constitution, the Fundamental Orders have earned Connecticut the nickname "the Constitution State."
The Pequot War was fought in 1637. The Pequots had always been hostile to the colonists and had killed explorers and traders, and during that year they tried to form alliances with the Narragansetts and other tribes to wage war against the colonists. Meanwhile, the Mohegans and Sequins had been friendly with immigrants from Massachusetts, encouraging their settlement to form a buffer between them and their more violent enemies. The efforts of the Pequots were alarming enough so that the colonists and Mohegans formed an alliance and attacked them. A force of about one hundred colonists and seventy Mohegans twice defeated the Pequots in battle, burning their largest stockade and nearly wiping them out
In 1665, the various villages established by colonists were united into the Connecticut colony. During the 1600s, large areas of forest were cleared to make way for farming. Farming on rocky soil, however, was very difficult, and by the 1720s Connecticut's people were leaving their farms for work in mills and factories. In 1702, Abraham Pierson established a "collegiate school" at Killing-worth (later called Clinton). In 1716 the college moved to New Haven; in 1718, it was named Yale College after Elihu Yale, a merchant who donated a small fortune to it.
In 1765, the Sons of Liberty was founded in Connecticut. The organization was at first intended to resist the Stamp Act of 1765 that taxed newspapers and other publications, but as dissatisfaction with Britain's treatment of its colonies grew, it became a resistance organization. By 1776, the only large community of pro-royalists, or Tories, was in Connecticut's southwestern region; otherwise, Connecticut almost entirely backed revolt against Britain. When war broke out, Connecticut contributed several thousand soldiers to the Continental army. No major battles were fought in Connecticut, but it was invaded four times, with British troops burning towns and killing civilians. In 1781, the British army captured about eighty American soldiers at Fort Griswold and massacred all of them.
Statehood
At the close of the American Revolution, in 1783, there was confusion among the states about matters such as trade, currency, and taxes. Connecticut enjoyed success as a manufacturing state and "Yankee peddlers" carried and sold Connecticut manufactured goods and imports in the other states. Connecticut itself had a decentralized government, with most political power resting in small communities. Only rich, landed men could vote. When the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia to determine the future of the United States, Connecticut resisted the creation of a strong central government, but it was outvoted. The convention stalled on the type of legislature the new American government should have; one based on population would favor the states with bigger populations. Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman presented the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed dividing the legislature into two parts: one elected by population, the other elected on the basis of two senators from each state regardless of population, thus ensuring a degree of security for small states. This approach having been adopted, Connecticut in 1788 became the fifth state to ratify the new Constitution.
In 1818, Connecticut overhauled its Fundamental Orders, expanding the right to vote beyond landed men and providing a stronger central state government. This constitution would govern Connecticut until 1965. The 1818 constitution gave the state's cities, towns, and villages one or two representatives each to the state's assembly, regardless of population. The state capitol moved between New Haven and Hartford for nearly sixty years. In 1964, the United States Supreme Court ruled Connecticut's constitution unconstitutional, and at a state constitutional convention, legislators created a constitution providing for one man-one vote representation.
During the 1840s, Connecticut received a large number of Irish immigrants who were integrated into the state's manufacturing economy. By the beginning of the Civil War, Connecticut was a major arms manufacturing center that contributed many weapons to the Union army. The state had been a hotbed of antislavery sentiment in the antebellum years, and during the war, it contributed more troops, mostly volunteers, to the Union cause than any state except Massachusetts. In 1875, Hartford was chosen as the permanent home of state government and the capitol building there was finished in 1880. Influxes of immigrants arrived from eastern Europe and Italy, with Italian Americans becoming the largest ethnic group in the state.
The era from 1880 to the Great Depression was one of expansion and social change. In 1865, the were 500,000 people living in Connecticut; by 1900, there were 1,000,000. In 1870, the gross state product was $160,000,000; in 1900, the gross state product was $300,000,000. Immigrants from Europe were drawn to Connecticut because of jobs in mills and the small arms industry. In 1917, a submarine base was established in Groton, and the manufacturing of submarines became one of the state's biggest employers. Nuclear submarines were still made there at the turn of the twenty-first century.
While this growth was underway, Connecticut farms were failing, with farm families abandoning their homes for jobs in the city. The western countryside of Connecticut looked desolate, with old roads passing by empty homes and overgrown farmland. Yet, in about 1900, Connecticut began to attract artists who enjoyed the privacy of Connecticut country life and wealthy New Yorkers and Bostonians who could pick up large swaths of land cheaply and turn them into estates. With the advent of the automobile, much of rural Connecticut became bedroom communities for people who worked in New York or Massachusetts and then commuted in their cars to homes away from the noise of the city.
Modern Era
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Connecticut suffered along with the rest of the nation. About one-fourth of the state's workers were unemployed and the areas of highest industrialization, especially in cities, were decaying. At this time, service industries such as insurance were becoming more important. During World War II, Connecticut's economy boomed as money for weapons poured in. The state was also a major manufacturer of submarines and aircraft engines. In 1954, the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, was launched at the shipyards in Groton.
A great disparity of wealth between the inner cities and the suburbs of Connecticut began during the 1980s and became acute in the 1970s as the state's middle class abandoned the central cities for the more secure and beautiful countryside.
Although African Americans made up only about 8 percent of the state's population, they were densely packed into cities. In 1967, a ferocious race riot in Hartford was followed by another in Bridgeport, the state's second and third largest cities—inspired by high unemployment among African Americans and a perception that African American needs were being neglected by the state and city governments. Afterward, efforts were made to revitalize city centers by making them tourist attractions and tourism became one of Connecticut's major sources of income.
During the 1990s the state's population declined, although many immigrants arrived from Southeast Asia. By the twenty-first century, the population was approximately 3.2 million people, the twenty-seventh largest state population in the United States. About 84 percent of the population was European American (exclusive of Hispanics), 8 percent African American, 6.5 percent Hispanic American, and 1.5 percent Asian American. Most of the population was centered in the cities, with agriculture accounting for only one percent of the state's revenue by 2001. Insurance and banking were the biggest employers, with employment in defense-related industries shrinking after the end of the Cold War. Even so, Connecticut was a major manufacturer of helicopters, aircraft engines, high technology electronics, and weapons. Growth in the financial and tourist industries in the 1990s began to change the state's economy, with people working in Connecticut while living in New York or Massachusetts. The per capita income in Connecticut is the highest of any state ($31,816 in 2000).
Much of the remaining original forest of Connecticut is in the northwest, but the forest has reasserted itself in many regions that had been cleared of trees by the 1800s. About one third of the state is covered by forest and the numerous state parks have become important attractions for campers and hikers, while the old towns have become attractions for tourists. The few descendants of the Pequots and Mohegans began operating casinos on their lands in the 1980s and 1990s, attracting tourists and pumping over $100 million in taxes annually to the state government.
Bibliography
Allen, Thomas B. "Connecticut." National Geographic (February 1994): 64–93.
Brown, Barbara W., and James M. Rose. Black Roots in Southeastern Connecticut, 1650–1900. New London, Conn.: New London County Historical Society, 2001.
Dalin, David G., and Jonathan Rosenbaum. Making a Life, Building a Community: A History of the Jews of Hartford. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1997.
Dayton, Cornelia Hughes. Women before the Bar: Gender, Law, and Society in Connecticut, 1639–1789. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.
Dugas, Rene L., Sr. Taftville, Connecticut, and the Industrial Revolution: The French Canadians in New England. 2d ed. New London, Conn.: Rene L. Dugas, 2001.
Eisler, Kim Isaac. Revenge of the Pequots: How a Small American Tribe Created the World's Most Profitable Casino. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001.
Grant, Ellsworth S. Miracle of Connecticut. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1997.
Grasso, Christopher. A Speaking Aristocracy: Transforming Public Discourse in Eighteenth-Century Connecticut. Chapel Hill: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture by the University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
Hamblin, Charles P. Connecticut Yankees at Gettysburg. Edited by Walter L. Powell. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1993.
Holbrook, Jay Mack. Connecticut Colonists: Windsor 1635–1703. Oxford, Mass.: Holbrook Research Institute, 1986.
Jones, Keith Marshal, III. Farms of Farmingville: A Two-Century History of Twenty-Three Ridgefield, Connecticut, Farmhouses and the People Who Gave Them Life. Ridgefield: Connecticut Colonel Publishing, 2001.
Klein, Woody. Westport, Connecticut: The Story of a New England Town's Rise to Prominence. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2000.
Larkin, Susan G. The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001.
Mann, Bruce H. Neighbors and Strangers: Law and Community in Early Connecticut. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
Philie, William L. Change and Tradition: New Haven, Connecticut, 1780–1830. New York: Garland, 1990.
Selesky, Harold E. War and Society in Colonial Connecticut. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1990.
Siskind, Janet. Rum and Axes: The Rise of a Connecticut Merchant Family, 1795–1850. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2002.
Thomas, Peter A. In the Maelstrom of Change: The Indian Trade and Cultural Process in the Middle Connecticut River Valley, 1635–1665. New York: Garland, 1991.
Weaver, Glenn. Jonathan Trumbull, Connecticut's Merchant Magistrate: 1710–1785. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1997.
Wills, Charles A. A Historical Album of Connecticut. Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press, 1995.
—Kirk H. Beetz
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Connecticut |
Facts and Figures
Area, 5,009 sq mi (12,973 sq km). Pop. (2000) 3,405,565, a 3.6% increase since the 1990 census. Capital, Hartford. Largest city, Bridgeport. Statehood, Jan. 9, 1788 (5th of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution). Highest pt., Mt. Frissell, 2,380 ft (726 m); lowest pt., sea level. Nickname, Constitution State. Motto, Qui Transtulit Sustinet [He Who Transplanted Still Sustains]. State bird, American robin. State flower, mountain laurel. State tree, white oak. Abbr., Conn.; CT
Geography
Generally rectangular in shape, Connecticut extends c.90 mi (145 km) from east to west and c.55 mi (90 km) from north to south. The state is divided into two roughly equal sections, usually called the eastern highland and the western highland, which are separated by the Connecticut Valley lowland. The Connecticut River, which flows through only the northern half of this lowland, veers off to the southeast at Middletown in central Connecticut. In the south along Long Island Sound is a low, rolling coastal plain. The western highland, with the Taconic Mts. and the Litchfield Hills, is more rugged than the eastern highland. A few isolated peaks in the west are over 2,000 ft (610 m) high. The Thames and the rivers emptying into it drain the eastern highland, and the Housatonic, with its chief tributary, the Naugatuck, drains the western highland. The Connecticut shore is a popular summer resort area, and the protected waters of Long Island Sound lure boating enthusiasts. Bridgeport is the largest city, with Hartford, the capital, and New Haven next in size.
Economy
Though famed for its rural loveliness, Connecticut derives most of its wealth from industry. Textiles, silverware, sewing machines, and clocks and watches are among Connecticut's historic manufactures. The state's principal industries today produce jet engines and parts, electronics and electrical machinery, computer equipment, and helicopters. Much of Connecticut's manufacturing is for the military. Firearms and ammunition, first produced here at the time of the American Revolution, are still made, and Groton is still a center for submarine building. Declines in federal defense spending, however, have adversely affected the state's economy.
Agriculture accounts for only a small share of state income; dairy products, eggs, vegetables, tobacco, mushrooms, and apples are the leading farm items. High-grade broadleaf tobacco, used in making cigar wrappers, has been a specialty of Connecticut agriculture since the 1830s. Largely shade-grown in the Connecticut Valley, it remains a valuable crop. Many varieties of fish, as well as oysters, lobsters, and other shellfish, are caught in Long Island Sound, but the fishing industry is small and has been hampered by pollution of the waters. Stone, sand, and gravel account for most of the limited income derived from mining.
Insurance is important in Connecticut; the Hartford metropolitan area is one of the industry's world centers, with the home offices of many insurance companies. Financial, real estate, and service industries are also of major importance. The Foxwoods gambling casino and resort on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation has since its opening in 1992 become one of the largest employers in the state, and the nearby Mohegan Sun casino has joined it in attracting visitors to SE Connecticut.
Government, Politics, and Higher Education
Connecticut's state senate has 36 members and its house of representatives has 151; members of both houses are elected for two-year terms. The state executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a term of four years. In 1994, John G. Rowland, the state's first Republican chief executive in 24 years, was elected. He was reelected in 1998 and 2002 but resigned in 2004 as he faced impeachment proceedings over suspected corruption. (Rowland subsequently pleaded guilty to a federal charge of corruption.) Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, also a Republican, succeeded Rowland, and she won election to the post in 2006. Connecticut's counties have lost most of their governmental functions to the state's towns and cities. Connecticut is represented in the U.S. Congress by five representatives and two senators and has seven electoral votes.
Institutions of higher learning in Connecticut include Yale Univ., at New Haven; Trinity College, at Hartford; Wesleyan Univ., at Middletown; the Univ. of Connecticut, at Storrs; and the United States Coast Guard Academy and Connecticut College, at New London.
History
Dutch and English Exploration and Settlement
In 1614 the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block sailed through Long Island Sound and explored the Connecticut River. The Dutch built a small fort in 1633 on the site of present-day Hartford, but they abandoned it in 1654 as English settlers moved into the area in increasing numbers.
Edward Winslow of Plymouth Colony was apparently the first English colonist to visit (1632) Connecticut, and in 1633 members of the Plymouth Colony established a trading post on the site of Windsor. This small Pilgrim enterprise was soon absorbed by Puritan settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Company. These settlers had been attracted to the area by the excellent reports brought back by one of their members, John Oldham, in 1633. Oldham returned to the Connecticut area in 1634 and established still another trading post, which became Wethersfield. The following year Puritans flocked in great numbers to the Connecticut River Valley.
In 1636, Thomas Hooker and his congregation left Newtown and settled near the Dutch trading post that had been established on the site of Hartford. The Pequot people resisted white settlement, but they were defeated by the English in the short Pequot War of 1637. Relations remained relatively peaceful until King Philip's War in 1675-76. In 1638-39 representatives of the three Connecticut River towns-Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield-met at Hartford and formed the colony of Connecticut. They also adopted the Fundamental Orders, which established a government for the colony.
A second colony, Saybrook, had been established at the mouth of the Connecticut River in 1635 by an English group. The colony's founders (who included Viscount Saye and Sile and Baron Brooke, for whom the colony was named) sold the Saybrook settlement to Connecticut colony in 1644. Connecticut's population expanded gradually, and by 1662 the colony included over a dozen towns, including Saybrook, New London,
The New England Confederation
In 1643, New Haven and Connecticut colonies joined with Massachusetts Bay colony and Plymouth colony to form the New England Confederation, a loose union for mutual defense. In 1662, Connecticut sent its governor, John Winthrop (1606-76), to London to secure a royal charter for the colony. He obtained the charter, by which Connecticut won its legal right to exist as a corporate colony and also acquired New Haven.
The years from 1750 to 1776 saw much bitter disagreement between radicals and conservatives in the colony. In 1776, the patriot governor, Jonathan Trumbull, was reelected almost unanimously (Connecticut and Rhode Island were the only colonies privileged to elect their chief executives), and he was the only governor of any colony to be retained in office after the outbreak of the American Revolution. There was little fighting in Connecticut during the Revolution-skirmishes at Stonington (1775), Danbury (1777), New Haven (1779), and New London (1781)-even though the state was the principal supply area for the Continental Army.
After the war the state relinquished (1786) to the United States its claims to western land, except for the Western Reserve (an area in Ohio). This claim was retained until part of the land was given to Connecticut citizens in 1792 and the remainder sold in 1795. In 1799, Connecticut's long dispute with Pennsylvania over the Wyoming Valley was finally settled. Connecticut was one of the first states to approve the U.S. Constitution (see Constitutional Convention).
The Embargo Act of 1807, passed during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, was vehemently denounced throughout New England; the ports on Long Island Sound and on the Connecticut River had developed a lively carrying trade with which the embargo interfered. The War of 1812 was also so unpopular that New England Federalists, meeting at the Hartford Convention in late 1814, considered secession. In 1818 the Jeffersonians came into power in the state, and a new constitution, replacing the old charter of 1662, was adopted. It disestablished the Congregational Church and greatly extended the franchise, although universal manhood suffrage was not proclaimed until 1845.
Early Manufacturing
Meanwhile, after Connecticut's shipping industry had been ruined by the embargo and the war, the state turned to manufacturing. Artisans and craftsmen had become increasingly numerous in late colonial days, and from native iron ore Connecticut forges had produced guns for the Patriot soldiers. Modern mass production had its beginning in the state when Eli Whitney, probably the best known of Connecticut's inventors, established (1798) at New Haven a firearms factory that began making guns with standardized, interchangeable parts. Earlier, in 1793, he had invented and manufactured the cotton gin at New Haven. The manufacture of notions (buttons, pins, needles, metal goods, and clocks) gave rise to the enterprising "Yankee peddler," who, with horse and cart, traveled the nation hawking his wares. Connecticut's insurance industry also developed during this period, and in 1810 the Hartford Fire Insurance Company was established.
Wars and Industrial Expansion
Connecticut, which had placed limitations on slavery in 1784 and abolished it in 1848, supported the Union during the Civil War with nearly 60,000 troops. During and after the war, industry expanded greatly. Immigration provided a cheap labor supply as English, Scottish, and many Irish immigrants, who had arrived in large numbers even before the war, were followed by French Canadians and, in the late 19th and early 20th cent., by Italians, Poles, and others.
During World Wars I and II Connecticut prospered, providing munitions and other supplies for the war effort. Between the two wars, however, the Great Depression left many unemployed. Connecticut's industries continued to grow and develop in the years following World War II. In 1954 the world's first nuclear-powered submarine was launched at Groton, and guns, helicopters, and jet engines were among key manufactures of the cold war period.
During the 1970s, as manufacturing began to decline, Connecticut's heavy industry-dependent major cities fell into a state of decay. The growth of financial, insurance, real estate, and service industries, however, helped make Connecticut one of the wealthiest states in the nation; many of these business moved to the state from New York. This wealth has been enjoyed primarily by the state's affluent suburbs, while the central cities have further crumbled, as evidenced by Bridgeport's bankruptcy filing in 1991. The development of Native-American-owned casinos in SE Connecticut during the 1990s supplanted defense industries as the main economic engine in that region.
Bibliography
See R. J. Purcell, Connecticut in Transition: 1775-1818 (1963); R. L. Bushman, From Puritan to Yankee (1967); D. M. Roth, ed., Series in Connecticut History (5 vol., 1978); W. J. Haliburton, The People of Connecticut (1985); T. R. Lewis and J. E. Harmon, Connecticut: A Geography (1986); W. Hubbell, Connecticut (1989).
| Local Time: Connecticut |
| Wine Lover's Companion: Connecticut |
Commercial wineries didn't get started in this state until 1978, when the Connecticut Winery Act was passed with the encouragement of Haight Winery. The state now has over ten wineries, most of which are located in the southeastern new england ava, which it shares with Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The few other wineries in the state are in the West Connecticut Highlands AVA, which encompasses a little over 1 million acres in the state's southwestern section. Although this region is the cooler of the two areas, it gains a warming influence from Long Island Sound, which runs along the state's southern edge. The most popular grapes here are hybrids like vidal blanc, seyval blanc, chancellor, cayuga, maréchal foch and aurora. Vitis vinifera varieties like chardonnay cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot cabernet franc and riesling are also grown.
| Stats: Connecticut |
 |
| Parks: Connecticut |
| Wikipedia: Connecticut |
| State of Connecticut | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Official language(s) | De jure: None De facto: English |
||||||||||||
| Demonym | Connecticuter,[2] Nutmegger[3] | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Hartford | ||||||||||||
| Largest city | Bridgeport[4] | ||||||||||||
| Largest metro area | Greater Hartford[5] | ||||||||||||
| Area | Ranked 48th in the US | ||||||||||||
| - Total | 5,543 sq mi (14,356 km2) |
||||||||||||
| - Width | 70 miles (113 km) | ||||||||||||
| - Length | 110 miles (177 km) | ||||||||||||
| - % water | 12.6 | ||||||||||||
| - Latitude | 40°58′ N to 42°03′ N | ||||||||||||
| - Longitude | 71°47′ W to 73°44′ W | ||||||||||||
| Population | Ranked 29th in the US | ||||||||||||
| - Total | 3,501,252 (2008 est.)[6] 3,405,565 (2000) |
||||||||||||
| - Density | 702.9/sq mi (271.40/km2) Ranked 4th in the US |
||||||||||||
| - Median income | $55,970 (4th) | ||||||||||||
| Elevation | |||||||||||||
| - Highest point | South slope of Mount Frissell[7] Note: The summit of Mount Frissell is in Massachusetts 2,380 ft (726 m) |
||||||||||||
| - Mean | 500 ft (152 m) | ||||||||||||
| - Lowest point | Long Island Sound[7] 0 ft (0 m) |
||||||||||||
| Admission to Union | January 9, 1788 (5th) | ||||||||||||
| Governor | M. Jodi Rell (R) | ||||||||||||
| Lieutenant Governor | Michael Fedele (R) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. Senators | Christopher Dodd (D) Joe Lieberman (ID) |
||||||||||||
| U.S. House delegation | 5 Democrats (list) | ||||||||||||
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | ||||||||||||
| Abbreviations | CT Conn. US-CT | ||||||||||||
| Website | http://www.ct.gov | ||||||||||||
Connecticut (pronounced /kəˈnɛtɨkət/ (
listen))[8] is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south (because various islands of New York span Connecticut's entire coast).
Southwestern Connecticut is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties, including most of the state's population, are in the New York City combined statistical area, commonly called the Tri-State Region. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County.[9]
Connecticut is the 29th most populous state, with 3.4 million residents, and is ranked 48th in size by area, making it the 4th most densely populated state. Called the Constitution State and the Nutmeg State,[1] Connecticut has a long history dating from early colonial times and was influential in the development of the federal government.
Connecticut's first European settlers were Dutch and established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut Rivers, called Huys de Goede Hoop. Initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony, New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers.
The first major settlements were established in the 1630s by the English. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers overland from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded what would become the Connecticut Colony; other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony. Both the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in North America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a royal charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.
Connecticut enjoys a temperate climate due to its long coastline on Long Island Sound. This has given the state a strong maritime tradition. Modern Connecticut is also known for its wealth. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Connecticut had ready access to raw materials which helped to develop a strong manufacturing industry, and financial organizations flourished: first insurance companies in Hartford, then hedge funds in Fairfield county. This prosperity has helped give Connecticut the highest per capita income, Human Development Index, and median household income in the country.[10][11][12]
Contents |
Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York State, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital is Hartford, and the other major cities include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Danbury and New London. There are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut.
The highest peak in Connecticut is Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the state. The highest point is just east of where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York meet (42° 3' N; 73° 29' W), on the southern slope of Mount Frissell, whose peak lies nearby in Massachusetts.[13]
The Connecticut River cuts through the center of the state, flowing into Long Island Sound, Connecticut's outlet to the Atlantic Ocean.
Despite its size, the state has regional variations in its landscape and culture from the estates of Fairfield County's "Gold Coast" to the rolling mountains and horse-farms of the Litchfield Hills of northwestern Connecticut. Connecticut's rural areas and small towns in the northeast and northwest corners of the state contrast sharply with its industrial cities, located along the coastal highways from the New York border to New Haven, then northward to Hartford, as well as further up the coast near New London. Many towns center around a "green," such as the New Haven Green, Litchfield Green, Simsbury Green, Lebanon Green (the largest in the state), and Wethersfield Green (the oldest in the state). Near the green typically stand historical visual symbols of New England towns, such as a white church, a colonial meeting house, a colonial tavern or "inne," several colonial houses, etc., establishing a scenic historic appearance maintained for both historic preservation and tourism.
Due to the climate, degree of urbanization, and economic status of the state, it offers easily accessed forests, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and a coastline, all developed for recreation.
The northern boundary of the state with Massachusetts is marked by the distinctive Southwick Jog or Granby Notch, an approximately 2.5 mile (4.0 km) square detour into Connecticut. The actual origin of this anomaly is clearly established in a long line of disputes and temporary agreements which was finally concluded in 1804, when southern Southwick, (whose residents sought to leave Massachusetts), was split in half.[14][15]
Although Connecticut has a long maritime history, and a reputation based on that history, Connecticut has no direct access to the sea. The jurisdiction of New York actually extends east at Fishers Island, where New York shares a sea border with Rhode Island dividing Narragansett Bay. Although Connecticut has easy access to the Atlantic, between Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound, Connecticut has no direct ocean coast.
The southwestern border of Connecticut, where it abuts New York State, is marked by a panhandle in Fairfield County, containing the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, Darien and part of Norwalk. This irregularity in the boundary is the result of territorial disputes in the late 1600s, culminating with New York giving up its claim to the area, whose residents considered themselves part of Connecticut, in exchange for an equivalent area extending northwards from Ridgefield to the Massachusetts border as well as undisputed claim to Rye, New York.[16]
Areas maintained by the National Park Service include: Appalachian National Scenic Trail; Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor; and Weir Farm National Historic Site.[17]
The Scoville Memorial Library is the United States oldest public library.[citation needed] The library collection began in 1771, when Richard Smith, owner of a local blast furnace, used community contributions to buy 200 books in London. Patrons could borrow and return books on the third Monday of every third month. Fees were collected for damages, the most common being "greasing" by wax dripped from the candles by which the patrons read.
Interior portions of Connecticut have a humid continental climate, while other parts, especially the Connecticut shoreline, have a humid subtropical climate with seasonal extremes tempered by proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. The city of Bridgeport (on Long Island Sound), like most other areas in metropolitan New York, has a humid subtropical climate under the Koppen Climate Classification system. Hartford (35 miles inland) has a humid continental climate. The coast of Southern Connecticut is often considered to be the farthest north on the U.S. east coast that subtropical "indicator" species such as the Dwarf Palmetto, Needle Palm, Crape Myrtle and the Southern Magnolia can be successfully cultivated.
Winters are generally considered to be cold, with average temperatures ranging from 31°F (−1°C) in the maritime influenced southeast to 23°F (−5°C) in the northwest in January. The average yearly snowfall is about 25–100" (64–254 cm) across the state, with higher totals in the northwest. Spring has variable temperatures with frequent rainfall. Summer is hot and humid throughout the state, with average highs in New London of 81°F (27°C) and 87°F (31°C) in Windsor Locks. Fall months are mild and bring colorful foliage across the state in October and November. During hurricane season, tropical cyclones occasionally affect the region. Thunderstorms are most frequent during the summer, occurring on average 30 times annually. These storms can be severe, and the state usually averages 1 tornado per year.[18]
| Monthly Normal High and Median Temperatures for Various Connecticut Cities | ||||||||||||
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgeport | 37/23 | 39/25 | 47/32 | 57/41 | 67/51 | 76/60 | 82/66 | 81/65 | 74/58 | 63/46 | 53/38 | 42/28 |
| Hartford | 34/17 | 38/20 | 48/28 | 60/38 | 72/48 | 80/57 | 85/62 | 82/61 | 74/52 | 63/41 | 51/33 | 39/23 |
| [19] | ||||||||||||
 |
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007) |
The Connecticut region was inhabited by the Mohegan tribe prior to European colonization. The first European explorer in Connecticut was the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. After he explored this region in 1614, Dutch fur traders sailed up the Connecticut River (then known by the Dutch as Versche Rivier—" Fresh River") and built a fort at Dutch Point near present-day Hartford, which they called "House of Hope" (Dutch: Huis van Hoop).
John Winthrop, then of Massachusetts, received permission to create a new colony at Old Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut River in 1635. This was the first of three distinct colonies that later would be combined to make up Connecticut. Saybrook Colony was a direct challenge to Dutch claims. The colony was not more than a small outpost and never matured. In 1644, the Saybrook Colony merged itself into the Connecticut Colony.
The first English settlers came in 1633 and settled at Windsor and then Wethersfield in 1634. However, the main body of settlers came in one large group in 1636. The settlers were Puritans from Massachusetts, led by Thomas Hooker. Hooker had been prominent in England and was a professor of theology at Cambridge. He was also an important political writer and made a significant contribution to Constitutional theory. He broke with the political leadership in Massachusetts, and, just as Roger Williams created a new polity in Rhode Island, Hooker and his cohort did the same and established the Connecticut Colony at Hartford in 1636. This was the second of the three colonies.
The third colony was founded in March 1638. New Haven Colony (originally known as the Quinnipiack Colony) was established by John Davenport, Theophilus Eaton, and others at New Haven. The New Haven Colony had its own constitution, "The Fundamental Agreement of the New Haven Colony", which was signed on 4 June 1639.
Because the Dutch were outnumbered by the flood of English settlers from Massachusetts, they left their fort in 1654.
Neither the establishment of the Connecticut Colony or the Quinnipiack Colony was carried out with the sanction of the English Crown, and they were independent political entities. They naturally were presumptively English, but in a legal sense, they were only secessionist outposts of Massachusetts Bay. In 1662, Winthrop took advantage of this void in political affairs and obtained in England the charter by which the colonies of Connecticut and Quinnipiack were united. Although Winthrop's charter favored the Connecticut colony, New Haven remained a seat of government with Hartford until after the American Revolution.
Winthrop was very politically astute and secured the charter from the newly restored Charles II, who granted the most liberal political terms.
Historically important colonial settlements included:
Its first constitution, the "Fundamental Orders", was adopted on January 14, 1639, while its current constitution, the third for Connecticut, was adopted in 1965. Connecticut is the fifth of the original thirteen states. The original constitutions influenced the US Constitution as one of the leading authors was Roger Sherman of New Haven.
The western boundaries of Connecticut have been subject to change over time. According to the Hartford Treaty with the Dutch, signed on September 19, 1650, but never ratified by the British, the western boundary of Connecticut ran north from Greenwich Bay for a distance of 20 miles[20][21] "provided the said line come not within 10 miles (16 km) [16 km] of Hudson River. This agreement was observed by both sides until war erupted between England and The Netherlands in 1652. No other limits were found. Conflict over uncertain colonial limits continued until the Duke of York captured New Netherland in 1664."[20][21] On the other hand, Connecticut's original Charter in 1662 granted it all the land to the "South Sea", i.e. the Pacific Ocean.[22][23] Most colonial royal grants were for long east-west strips. Connecticut took its grant seriously, and established a ninth county between the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers, named Westmoreland County. This resulted in the brief Pennamite Wars with Pennsylvania.
Connecticut's lands also extended across northern Ohio, called the Western Reserve lands. The Western Reserve section was settled largely by people from Connecticut, and they brought Connecticut place names to Ohio. Agreements with Pennsylvania and New York extinguished the land claims by Connecticut within its neighbors, and the Western Reserve lands were relinquished to the federal government, which brought the state to its present boundaries.
|
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| The flag of Connecticut. | |
|
|
|
| Animate insignia | |
| Bird | American Robin |
| Fish | American shad |
| Flower | Mountain Laurel |
| Insect | European Mantis |
| Mammal | Sperm whale |
| Tree | Charter White oak |
|
|
|
| Inanimate insignia | |
| Dance | Square dance |
| Fossil | Dinosaur tracks |
| Mineral | Garnet |
| Shell | Eastern Oyster |
| Ship(s) | USS Nautilus (SSN-571), Freedom Schooner Amistad |
| Slogan(s) | Full of Surprises |
| Song(s) | Yankee Doodle, The Nutmeg |
| Tartan | Connecticut State Tartan |
|
|
|
| Route marker(s) | |
 |
|
|
|
|
| State Quarter | |
 |
|
| Released in 1999 | |
|
|
|
| Lists of United States state insignia | |
The name "Connecticut" originates from the Mohegan word quinnitukqut, meaning "place of long tidal river".[24] Connecticut's official nickname, adopted in 1959, is "The Constitution State," based on its colonial constitution of 1638–1639 which was the first in America and, arguably, the world.[1] Unofficially (but popularly) Connecticut is also known as "The Nutmeg State".[1] The origins of the nutmeg connection to Connecticut are unknown. It may have come from its sailors returning from voyages with nutmeg (which in the 18th and 19th centuries was a very valuable spice). It may have originated in the early machined sheet tin nutmeg grinders sold by early Connecticut peddlers. It is also facetiously said to come from Yankee peddlers from Connecticut who would sell small carved nobs of wood shaped to look like nutmeg to unsuspecting customers.[25] George Washington gave Connecticut the title of "The Provisions State"[1] because of the material aid the state rendered to the Revolutionary War effort. Connecticut is also known as "The Land of Steady Habits".[1]
According to Webster's New International Dictionary, 1993, a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a "Connecticuter". There are numerous other terms coined in print, but not in use, such as: "Connecticotian" - Cotton Mather in 1702. "Connecticutensian" - Samuel Peters in 1781. "Nutmegger" is sometimes used,[26] as is "Yankee" (the official State Song is "Yankee Doodle"), though this usually refers someone from the wider New England region.[27] Linguist Allen Walker Read reports a more playful term, 'connecticutie.' The traditional abbreviation of the state's name is "Conn."; the official postal abbreviation is CT.
Commemorative stamps issued by the United States Postal Service with Connecticut themes include Nathan Hale, Eugene O'Neill, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, the whaling ship the Charles W. Morgan which is docked in Mystic Seaport, and a decoy of a broadbill duck.
| State hero | Nathan Hale |
| State heroine | Prudence Crandall |
| State composer | Charles Edward Ives |
| State statues in Statuary Hall | Roger Sherman and Jonathan Trumbull[28] |
| State poet laureate | John Hollander |
| Connecticut State Troubadour | Pierce Campbell[29] |
| State composer laureate | Jacob Druckman |
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1790 | 237,946 |
|
|
| 1800 | 251,002 | 5.5% | |
| 1810 | 261,942 | 4.4% | |
| 1820 | 275,248 | 5.1% | |
| 1830 | 297,675 | 8.1% | |
| 1840 | 309,978 | 4.1% | |
| 1850 | 370,792 | 19.6% | |
| 1860 | 460,147 | 24.1% | |
| 1870 | 537,454 | 16.8% | |
| 1880 | 622,700 | 15.9% | |
| 1890 | 746,258 | 19.8% | |
| 1900 | 908,420 | 21.7% | |
| 1910 | 1,114,756 | 22.7% | |
| 1920 | 1,380,631 | 23.9% | |
| 1930 | 1,606,903 | 16.4% | |
| 1940 | 1,709,242 | 6.4% | |
| 1950 | 2,007,280 | 17.4% | |
| 1960 | 2,535,234 | 26.3% | |
| 1970 | 3,031,709 | 19.6% | |
| 1980 | 3,107,576 | 2.5% | |
| 1990 | 3,287,116 | 5.8% | |
| 2000 | 3,405,565 | 3.6% | |
| Est. 2008[6] | 3,501,252 | 2.8% | |
| Sources:[30][31] | |||
As of 2005, Connecticut has an estimated population of 3,510,297,[32] which is an increase of 11,331, or 0.3%, from the prior year and an increase of 104,695, or 3.1%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 67,427 people (that is 222,222 births minus 154,795 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 41,718 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 75,991 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 34,273 people. Based on the 2005 estimates, Connecticut moves from the 29th most populous state to 30th.[32]
6.6% of its population was reported as being under 5 years old, 24.7% under 18 years old, and 13.8% were 65 years of age or older. Females made up approximately 51.6% of the population, with 48.4% male.
In 1790, 97% of the population in Connecticut was classified as "rural". The first census in which less than half the population was classified as rural was 1890. In the 2000 census, it was only 12.3%. Most of western and southern Connecticut is strongly associated with New York City; this area is the most affluent and populous region of the state. Eastern Connecticut is more culturally influenced by the greater New England area, including the cities of Boston and Providence. Some cite this cultural split when noting the state's lack of professional sports teams, ie., NHL (hockey) since the mid 1990s, NFL (football), MLS (soccer), and men's basketball.
The center of population of Connecticut is located in the town of Cheshire.[33]
| Demographics of Connecticut (csv) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By race | White | Black | AIAN* | Asian | NHPI* |
| 2000 (total population) | 87.09% | 10.46% | 0.73% | 2.83% | 0.13% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 8.31% | 1.04% | 0.14% | 0.07% | 0.04% |
| 2005 (total population) | 86.09% | 10.88% | 0.76% | 3.56% | 0.15% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 9.74% | 1.09% | 0.16% | 0.07% | 0.05% |
| Growth 2000–05 (total population) | 1.89% | 7.19% | 6.59% | 29.77% | 15.41% |
| Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) | -0.11% | 7.16% | 3.74% | 30.12% | 16.21% |
| Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) | 20.87% | 7.40% | 18.36% | 14.98% | 13.68% |
| * AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
As of 2004, 11.4% of the population (400,000) was foreign-born, and 10% of the foreign-born in the state were illegal aliens (about 1.1% of the population). In 1870, native-born Americans had accounted for 75% of the state's population, but that had dropped to 35% by 1918.
As of 2000, 81.69% of Connecticut residents age 5 and older spoke English at home and 8.42% spoke Spanish, followed by Italian at 1.59%, French at 1.31% and Polish at 1.20%.[34]
The five largest reported ancestries in the state are: Italian (18.6%), Irish (16.6%), English (10.3%), German (9.9%), and French/French Canadian (9.9%).
Connecticut has large Italian American, Irish American and English American populations, as well as German American and Portuguese American populations, second highest percentage of any state behind Rhode Island (19.3%). Italian is the largest ancestry group in five of the state's counties, while the Irish are the largest group in Tolland county, French Canadians the largest group in Windham county, and old stock New England Yankees are present throughout. African Americans and Hispanics (mostly Puerto Ricans) are numerous in the urban areas of the state. Like Ohio and New York, Connecticut is also known for its relatively large Hungarian American population, the majority of which live in and around Fairfield, Stamford, Naugatuck and Bridgeport. Connecticut also has a sizable Polish American population, with New Britain containing the largest Polish American population in the state.
More recent immigrant populations include those from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, Jamaica, Haiti and former Soviet countries.
A 2001 survey of Connecticut residents' religious self-identification showed the following distribution of affiliations:[35]
Jewish congregations had 108,280 (3.2%) members in 2000;[36] The Jewish population is concentrated in the towns near Long Island Sound between Greenwich and New Haven, in Greater New Haven and in Greater Hartford, especially the suburb of West Hartford. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, the largest Christian denominations, by number of adherents, in 2000 were: the Catholic Church, with 1,372,562; the United Church of Christ, with 124,770; and the Episcopal Church, with 73,550.[36]
Recent immigration has brought other non-Christian religions to the state, but the numbers of adherents of other religions are still low.
Connecticut is also home to New England's largest Protestant Church The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Connecticut located in Hartford County.
The total gross state product for 2006 was $204 billion. The per capita income for 2007 was $54,117, ranking first among the states.[37] There is, however, a great disparity in incomes throughout the state; although New Canaan has one of the highest per capita incomes in America, Hartford is one of the ten cities with the lowest per capita incomes in America. As with Bridgeport, New Haven and other cities in the state, Hartford is surrounded by wealthier suburbs.
New Canaan is the wealthiest town in Connecticut, with a per capita income of $85,459. Darien, Greenwich, Weston, Westport and Wilton also have per capita incomes over $65,000. Hartford is the poorest municipality in Connecticut, with a per capita income of $13,428 in 2000.[38] There are other lower-income and blue-collar towns, mostly parts of towns, in the eastern part of the State.
Prior to 1991, Connecticut had a highly populist income tax system. Income from employment was untaxed, but income from investments was taxed at the highest rate in the U.S. at 13%. And this burden was further increased by the method of calculation: no deductions were allowed for the cost (for example, interest on borrowing) of producing the investment income. Under Governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., an Independent, this was reformed to the present system. The system made it an attractive haven for high-salaried earners fleeing the heavy taxes of New York State, but highly unattractive for members of Wall Street partnerships. It put an enormous burden on Connecticut property tax payers, particularly in the cities with their more extensive municipal services.
With Weicker's 1991 tax reform, the tax on employment and investment income were equalized at a maximum rate of 4%. Since then, Greenwich, Connecticut, has become the headquarters of choice for a large number of America's largest hedge funds. Today the income tax rate on Connecticut individuals is divided into two tax brackets of 3% and 5%.[39] All wages of a Connecticut resident are subject to the state's income tax, even when the resident works outside of the state. However, in those cases, Connecticut income tax must be withheld only to the extent the Connecticut tax exceeds the amount withheld by the other jurisdiction. Since New York state has higher tax rates than Connecticut, this effectively means that Connecticut residents that work in New York state pay no income tax to Connecticut.
Connecticut levies a 6% state sales tax on the retail sale, lease, or rental of most goods. Some items and services in general are not subject to sales and use taxes unless specifically enumerated as taxable by statute. There are no additional sales taxes imposed by local jurisdictions. During the summer there is one week during which sales tax on certain items and quantities of clothing is not imposed in order to assist those with children returning to school.
All real and personal property located within the state of Connecticut is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. All assessments are at 70% of fair market value. Another 20% of the value may be taxed by the local government though. The maximum property tax credit is $500 per return and any excess may not be refunded or carried forward.[39] Connecticut does not levy an intangible personal property tax.
Homes in Connecticut vary widely with a median price of approximately $226,000. By contrast, the median value for a home in Fairfield County, for example, is about $370,000.[40][41] Connecticut has the most multi-million dollar homes in the Northeast, and the second most in the nation after California, with 3.3% of homes in Connecticut priced over $1 million in 2003.[42]
The agricultural produce of the state includes nursery stock; eggs; clams and lobster (shellfish); dairy products; cattle; and tobacco. Its industrial output includes transportation equipment, especially helicopters, aircraft parts, and nuclear submarines; heavy industrial machinery and electrical equipment; military weaponry; fabricated metal products; chemical and pharmaceutical products; and scientific instruments.
Due to the prominence of the aircraft industry in the state, Connecticut has an official state aircraft, the F4U Corsair, and an official Connecticut Aviation Pioneer, Igor Sikorsky. The state officially recognizes aircraft designer Gustav Whitehead as "Father of Connecticut Aviation" for his research into powered flight in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1901, two years before the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.[43] Governor John Dempsey also declared August 15 to be "Gustave Whitehead Day".[44]
A report issued by the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism on December 7, 2006, demonstrated that the economic impact of the arts, film, history and tourism generated more than $14 billion in economic activity and 170,000 jobs annually. This provides $9 billion in personal income for Connecticut residents and $1.7 billion in state and local revenue.[45]
The Interstate highways in the state are I-95 (the Connecticut Turnpike) running southwest to northeast along the coast, I-84 running southwest to northeast in the center of the state, I-91 running north to south in the center of the state, and I-395 running north to south near the eastern border of the state. The other major highways in Connecticut are the Merritt Parkway and Wilbur Cross Parkway, which together form State Route 15, running from the Hutchinson River Parkway in New York State parallel to I-95 before turning north of New Haven and running parallel to I-91, finally becoming a surface road in Berlin, Connecticut. Route 15 and I-95 were originally toll roads; they relied on a system of toll plazas at which all traffic stopped and paid fixed tolls. A series of terrible crashes at these plazas eventually contributed to the decision to remove the tolls in 1988.[46] Other major arteries in the state include U.S. Route 7 in the west running parallel to the NY border, State Route 8 farther east near the industrial city of Waterbury and running north-south along the Naugatuck River Valley nearly parallel with U.S. 7, and State Route 9 in the east. See List of State Routes in Connecticut for an overview of the state's highway system.
Between New Haven and the New York City, I-95 is one of the most congested highways in the United States. Many people now drive longer distances to work in the New York City area. This strains the three lanes of traffic capacity, resulting in lengthy rush hour delays. Frequently, the congestion spills over to clog the parallel Merritt Parkway. The state has encouraged traffic reduction schemes, including rail use and ride-sharing.[47]
Connecticut also has a very active bicycling community, with one of the highest rates of bicycling ownership and use in the United States. New Haven's cycling community, organized in a local advocacy group called ElmCityCycling, is particularly active. According to the U.S. Census 2006 American Community Survey, New Haven has the highest percentage of commuters who bicycle to work of any major metropolitan center on the East Coast.
Southwestern Connecticut is served by MTA's Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line, providing commuter service to New York City and New Haven, with branches servicing New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury. Connecticut lies along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor which features frequent Northeast Regional and Acela Express service. Towns between New Haven and New London are also served by the Shore Line East commuter line. Operation of commuter trains from New Haven to Springfield on Amtrak's New Haven-Springfield Line is under consideration.[48][49] Amtrak also operates a shuttle service between New Haven and Springfield, Massachusetts, servicing Hartford and other towns on the corridor.
Statewide bus service is supplied by Connecticut Transit, owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, with smaller municipal authorities providing local service. Bus networks are an important part of the transportation system in Connecticut, especially in urban areas like Hartford, Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport and New Haven. A three-year construction project to build a busway from New Britain to Hartford will begin in August 2009.[50][51]
Bradley International Airport is located in Windsor Locks, 15 miles (24 km) north of Hartford. Regional air service is provided at Tweed New Haven Regional Airport. Larger civil airports include Danbury Municipal Airport and Waterbury-Oxford Airport in western Connecticut. The Westchester County Airport in Harrison, New York serves part of southwestern Connecticut.
Hartford has been the sole capital of Connecticut since 1875. Before then, New Haven and Hartford alternated as capitals.[24]
Connecticut is known as the "Constitution State". While the origin on this title is uncertain, the nickname is assumed to refer to the Fundamental Orders of 1638–39. These Fundamental Orders represent the framework for the first formal government written by a representative body in Connecticut. The government has operated under the direction of four separate documents in the course of Connecticut Constitutional History. After the Fundamental Orders, Connecticut was granted governmental authority by King Charles II of England through the Connecticut Charter of 1662. While these two documents acted to lay the ground work for the state’s government, either document could be altered simply by a majority vote of the General Assembly.[citation needed] Separate branches of government did not exist during this period, and the General Assembly acted as the supreme authority. A constitution similar to the modern U.S. Constitution was not adopted in Connecticut until 1818. Finally, the current state constitution was implemented in 1965. The 1965 constitution absorbed a majority of its 1818 predecessor, but incorporated a handful of important modifications. Another possible source of the nickname "constitution state" comes from Connecticut's pivotal role in the federal constitutional convention of 1787, during which Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth helped to orchestrate what became known as the Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise. This plan combined the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan to form a bicameral legislature, a form copied by almost every state constitution since the adoption of the federal constitution.
The governor heads the executive branch. The current Governor of Connecticut is M. Jodi Rell (Republican). The current Lieutenant Governor is Michael Fedele. From 1639 until the adoption of the 1818 constitution, the governor presided over the General Assembly. Connecticut was the first state in the United States to elect a woman as governor without electing her husband first, Ella Grasso in 1974.
There are several executive departments: Administrative Services, Agriculture, Banking, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Correction, Economic and Community Development, Developmental Services, Education, Environmental Protection, Higher Education, Information Technology, Insurance, Labor, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Military, Motor Vehicles, Public Health, Public Safety, Public Utility Control, Public Works, Revenue Services, Social Services, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs. In addition to these departments, there are other independent bureaus, offices and commissions.[52]
In addition to the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, there are four other executive officers named in the state constitution that are elected directly by voters: Secretary of the State, Treasurer, Comptroller and Attorney General. All executive officers are elected to four year terms.[24]
The legislature is the General Assembly. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of an upper body, the State Senate (36 senators); and a lower body, the House of Representatives (151 representatives).[24] Bills must pass each house in order to become law. The governor can veto the bill, but this veto can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in each house. Senators and representatives, all of whom must be at least eighteen years of age, are elected to two-year terms in November on even-numbered years. The Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate, except when absent from the chamber, when the President pro tempore presides. The Speaker of the House presides over the House; Chris Donovan is the current Speaker of the House of Connecticut. The Democrats currently hold a two-thirds super-majority in both houses of the General Assembly.
Connecticut's U.S. senators are Christopher J. Dodd (Democrat) and Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut for Lieberman, Independent Democrat) who is part of the Democratic Caucus. Connecticut currently has five representatives in the U.S. House, all of whom are Democrats. Connecticut and Vermont remain the only two states with Independent Senators.
The highest court of Connecticut's judicial branch is the Connecticut Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of Connecticut. The Supreme Court is responsible for deciding on the constitutionality of the law or cases as they relate to the law. Its proceedings are similar to those of the United States Supreme Court, with no testimony given by witnesses, and the lawyers of the two sides each present oral arguments no longer than thirty minutes. Following a court proceeding, the court may take several months to arrive at a judgment. The current Chief Justice is Chase T. Rogers.
In 1818, the court became a separate entity, independent of the legislative and executive branches.[53] The Appellate Court is a lesser state-wide court and the Superior Courts are lower courts that resemble county courts of other states.
Connecticut has 169 towns, which serve as the fundamental local political subdivision of the state; the entire state is divided into towns.[24] Connecticut shares a local form of government with the rest of New England called the New England town. There are also 21 cities,[24] most of which are coterminous with their namesake towns and have a merged city-town government. There are two exceptions: City of Groton, which is a subsection of the Town of Groton and the City of Winsted in the Town of Winchester. There are also nine incorporated boroughs which may provide additional services to a section of town.[24][54] One, Naugatuck, is a consolidated town and borough.
Unlike most other states, Connecticut does not have county government. Connecticut county governments were mostly eliminated in 1960, with the exception of sheriffs elected in each county.[55] In 2000, the county sheriff was abolished and replaced with the state marshal system, which has districts that follow the old county territories. The judicial system is divided, at the trial court level, into judicial districts which largely follow the old county lines.[56] The eight counties are still widely used for purely geographical and statistical purposes, such as weather reports, and census reporting.
The state is divided into 15 planning regions defined by the state Office of Planning and Management.[57] The Intragovernmental Policy Division of this Office coordinates regional planning with the administrative bodies of these regions. Each region has an administrative body known as either a regional council of governments, a regional council of elected officials, or a regional planning agency. The regions are established for the purpose of planning "coordination of regional and state planning activities; designation or redesignation of logical planning regions and promotion of the continuation of regional planning organizations within the state; and provision for technical aid and the administration of financial assistance to regional planning organizations."[57]
| Year | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 38.77% 620,210 | 61.23% 979,316 |
| 2004 | 43.95% 693,826 | 54.31% 857,488 |
| 2000 | 38.44% 561,094 | 55.91% 816,015 |
| 1996 | 34.69% 483,109 | 52.83% 735,740 |
| 1992 | 35.78% 578,313 | 42.21% 682,318 |
| 1988 | 51.98% 750,241 | 46.87% 676,584 |
| 1984 | 60.73% 890,877 | 38.83% 569,597 |
| 1980 | 48.16% 677,210 | 38.52% 541,732 |
| 1976 | 52.06% 719,261 | 46.90% 647,895 |
| 1972 | 58.57% 810,763 | 40.13% 555,498 |
| 1968 | 44.32% 556,721 | 49.48% 621,561 |
| 1964 | 32.09% 390,996 | 67.81% 826,269 |
| 1960 | 46.27% 565,813 | 53.73% 657,055 |
Connecticut recently leans strongly towards the Democratic Party. However, Connecticut has a high number of voters who are not registered with a major party. As of 2004, 33.7% of registered voters were registered Democratic, 22.0% were registered Republican, and 44.0% were unaffiliated with any party, with 0.2% registered with a minor party.[59]
Many Connecticut towns show a marked preference for moderate candidates of either party. Democrats hold a registration edge especially in the cities of Hartford; New Haven; and Bridgeport, where Democratic machines have held power since the great immigration waves of the 1800s.[citation needed] The state's Republican-leaning areas are the rural Litchfield County and adjoining towns in the west of Hartford County, the industrial towns of the Naugatuck River Valley, and some of the affluent Fairfield County towns near the New York border. The suburban towns of New Canaan and Darien in Fairfield County are considered the most Republican areas in the state. Westport, a wealthy town a few miles to the east, is often considered one of the most loyally-Democratic, liberal towns in Fairfield County. The historically Republican-leaning wealthy town of Wilton voted in the majority for Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election. Norwalk and Stamford, two larger, affluent communities in Fairfield County, have in many elections favored moderate Republicans including former Governor John G. Rowland and former Congressman Chris Shays, however they have favored Democrats in recent US presidential candidates, the latter being defeated by Democrat Jim Himes in the 2008 election year. Waterbury has a Democratic registration edge, but usually favors conservative candidates in both parties. In Danbury unaffiliated voters outnumber voters registered with either major party. Other smaller cities including Meriden, New Britain, Norwich and Middletown favor Democratic candidates.
Democrats hold veto-proof majorities in both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly. In July, 2009 the Connecticut legislature overrode a veto by Governor M. Jodi Rell to pass SustiNet, the first significant public-option health care reform legislation in the nation.[60]
In 2008, Democrats controlled all five federal congressional seats. The remaining Republican, Chris Shays, lost his seat to Democrat Jim Himes in the Congressional Election of that year. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman are Connecticut's U.S. senators. The senior Dodd is a Democrat while the junior Lieberman serves as an Independent Democrat caucusing with Senate Democrats after his victory on the Connecticut for Lieberman ballot line in the 2006 general election. Lieberman's predecessor, Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., was the last Connecticut Republican to serve as Senator. Weicker was known as a liberal Republican. He broke with President Richard Nixon during Watergate and successfully ran for governor in 1990 as an independent, creating A Connecticut Party as his election vehicle. Before Weicker, the last Republican to represent Connecticut in the Senate was Prescott Bush, the father of former President George H.W. Bush and the grandfather of former President George W. Bush. He served from 1953–1963.
Connecticut is well known as the home of Yale University (1701), which maintains a consistent ranking as one of the world's most renowned universities and has one of the most selective undergraduate programs of any university in the United States (a 7.5% acceptance rate in 2009).[61] Yale is one of the largest employers in the state, and its research activity has recently spun off dozens of growing biotechnology companies.
Connecticut is also the host of many other academic institutions, including Trinity College (1823), Wesleyan University (1832), University of Hartford (1877), Post University (1890), Connecticut College (1911), the United States Coast Guard Academy (1915), University of Bridgeport (1927), Quinnipiac University (1929), Fairfield University (1942), Sacred Heart University (1964), and the Connecticut State University System. The University of Connecticut (1881) has been the highest ranked public university in New England for eight years running, according to U.S. News and World Report.[citation needed]
The state has many noted boarding schools, including Avon Old Farms (1927), Canterbury School (1915), Cheshire Academy (1794), Choate Rosemary Hall (1890), Ethel Walker School (1911), The Gunnery (1850), Hotchkiss School (1891), Kent School (1906), Loomis Chaffee (1874), Miss Porter's School (1843), Pomfret School (1894), Salisbury School (1901), Suffield Academy (1833), The Taft School (1890), and the Westminster School (1888), which draw students from all over the world.
Connecticut has many noted private day schools such as Brunswick School (1902) in Greenwich, Fairfield College Preparatory School (1942) in Fairfield, Academy of Our Lady of Mercy Lauralton Hall (1905) in Milford, Greens Farms Academy (1925) in Greens Farms, Hamden Hall Country Day School (1912) in Hamden, Holy Cross High School (1968) in Waterbury, Hopkins School (1660) in New Haven, Kingswood-Oxford School (1909) in West Hartford, Notre Dame Catholic High School (1955) in Fairfield, King Low Heywood Thomas (1865) in Stamford, the Norwich Free Academy (1854) in Norwich, St. Lukes School (1928) in New Canaan, St. Joseph High School (1962) in Trumbull, and the Williams School (1891) in New London.
Connecticut was also home to the nation's first law school, Litchfield Law School, which operated from 1773 to 1833 in Litchfield. Hartford Public High School (1638) is the third-oldest secondary school in the nation after the Collegiate School (1628) in Manhattan and the Boston Latin School (1635). The Hopkins School (1660) is the fifth-oldest after these three and the Roxbury Latin School (1645) in Boston.
The Connecticut State Department of Education manages the state's public schools. Avon High School, Conard High School, Enfield High School, Farmington High School, Greenwich High School, Simsbury High School, and Staples High School have been nationally recognized for their excellence.[citation needed]
for a comprehensive listing.
 |
This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (November 2009) |
 |
This article may contain excessive, poor or irrelevant examples. You can improve the article by adding more descriptive text. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (March 2009) |
George Walker Bush, the forty-third President of the United States, was born in Connecticut. He is a member of the Bush political family, with roots in the state extending three generations. Other notable figures from the state span American political and cultural history, including Roger Sherman, Benedict Arnold, Nathan Hale, Eli Whitney, John Brown, Prudence Crandall, P. T. Barnum, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Florence Griswold, Charles Ives, Wallace Stevens, Eugene O'Neill, Katharine Hepburn, Leroy Anderson, Joanne Woodward, Ralph Nader, Jacques Pépin, Phil Donahue, Marlo Thomas, Mia Farrow, Jane Curtin, Patti LuPone, Meryl Streep, Michael Bolton, 50 Cent, and John Mayer.
American author Mark Twain resided in his innovative Hartford home from 1871 until 1891, during which time he published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He lived in Redding from 1908 until his death in 1910.[63] Meg Ryan lived in Bethel while growing up. Paul Newman, before his death in 2008, lived in Connecticut for most of his life and it is often referred to as his "adopted state".[citation needed] Many music stars, radio and television personalities, and athletes have made temporary homes in the wealthy suburbs of Fairfield County. Singer Gene Pitney was born in Hartford and grew up in Rockville. Noah Webster was born in Hartford in an area that is now part of West Hartford and was the author of the "Blue Backed Speller," now known as Webster's Dictionary. The Speller was used to teach spelling to five generations of Americans. Actor Dylan McDermott was born and raised in Waterbury.
Find more about Connecticut on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Learning resources from Wikiversity |
Massachusetts | |
||
| New York |  |
Rhode Island | ||
 Connecticut  |
||||
 |
||||
| Long Island Sound |
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Preceded by Georgia |
List of U.S. states by date of statehood Ratified Constitution on January 9, 1788 (5th) |
Succeeded by Massachusetts |
Coordinates: 41°36′N 72°42′W / 41.6°N 72.7°W
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Misspellings: Connecticut |
Common misspelling(s) of Connecticut
| Translations: Connecticut |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - Connecticut
Français (French)
n. - Connecticut
Deutsch (German)
n. - Connecticut
Português (Portuguese)
n. - Connecticut
Español (Spanish)
n. - Connecticut
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
康涅狄格州
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 康乃迪克州
한국어 (Korean)
코네티컷 (미국 북동부의 주; 주도 Hartford; (약) Conn., CT; 속칭 Constitution State. Land of Steady Habits)
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
To select your translation preferences click here.
| Shopping: Connecticut |
 | Pequot War |
| Riots |
| Sons of Liberty (American Revolution) |
 | Is their a river in connecticut called connecticut? Read answer... |
| Why did they name Connecticut Connecticut? Read answer... |
| Jamestown is in Connecticut? Read answer... |
 | Who were the inhabitors in Connecticut? |
| What is the manufacturing of connecticut? |
| What means Connecticut? |
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
 |
Maps. ©2008 Google. All rights reserved. Read more | |
 |
| Local Time. Copyright © 2009 - Chaos Software. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wine Lover's Companion. Wine Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Stats. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
|
| Parks. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Connecticut". Read more |
|
| Misspellings. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
Mentioned in
