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ORDER and DISORDER in EARLY CONNECTICUT: NEW HAVEN, 1639-1701 ROBERT WEST ROETGER University of New Hampshire, Durham

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ORDER and DISORDER in EARLY CONNECTICUT: NEW HAVEN, 1639-1701 ROBERT WEST ROETGER University of New Hampshire, Durham University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1982 ORDER AND DISORDER IN EARLY CONNECTICUT: NEW HAVEN, 1639-1701 ROBERT WEST ROETGER University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation ROETGER, ROBERT WEST, "ORDER AND DISORDER IN EARLY CONNECTICUT: NEW HAVEN, 1639-1701" (1982). Doctoral Dissertations. 2323. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2323 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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University M icrofilm s International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8227434 Roetger, Robert West ORDER AND DISORDER IN EARLY CONNECTICUT: NEW HAVEN, 1639- 1701 University of New Hampshire PH.D. 1982 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check markV . 1. Glossy photographs or p a______ g es 2. Colored illustrations, paper or print______ 3. Photographs with dark background______ 4. Illustrations are poor cop_______ y 5. Pages with black marks, not original_______ copy 6. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of ______page 7. Indistinct, broken or small print on several pages 8. Print exceeds margin requirements______ 9. Tightly bound copy with print lost in spine_______ 10. Computer printout pages with indistinct print______ 11. P age(s)____________lacking when material received, and not available from school or author. 12. P age(s)____________seem to be missing in numbering only as text follows. 13. Two pages numbered____________. Text follows. 14. Curling and wrinkled p a g_______ es 15. Other__________________________________________________________________________ University Microfilms International ORDER AND DISORDER IN EARLY CONNECTICUT: NEW HAVEN, 1639-1701 BY Robert W. Roetger B.A., Emerson College, 1971 M.A., University of New Hampshire, 1974 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History May, 1982 This dissertation has been examined and approved. Irector, Darrett B . R u t m a n , 'onald j/wilcox/Professor of ni^ory Robert M. Mennel, Director of Graduate Studies, Professor of History < Robert C. Gilmore, Associate Professor of History Marc L. Schwarz, Associate Professor ofHistory s&f .yf ^ Arnold S. Linsky, Professor of Sociology j~^> A a A a * . C ■ f ^ ) fi/y y ^ lz Bruce C. Daniels, Professor of History, University of Winnipeg Kp/.20 Wfl Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Each member of my dissertation committee has helped to shape my thinking and the way I view history. In particular, however, I wish to extend special thanks to the following: Arnold Linsky for his interest in history and for broadening my understanding of the sociology of deviance. Bruce Daniels for offering to serve as a reader and for his meticulous criticism of the text. Don Wilcox whose superior command of history and "humanistic" perspective convinced me of the value of analyzing the context of events. Finally, my greatest debt is to Darrett Rutman who was ever patient, helpful, and available. It was he who provided me with important tools of the profession which, at this point, still need to be mastered. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............... iii LIST OF TABLES.............................................. v LIST OF FIGURES............................................. vi ABSTRACT..................................................... vii INTRODUCTION................................................ 1 I: THE WELL-ORDERED SOCIETY............................ 13 II: ORDER THROUGH LAW.................................... 57 III: CHALLENGES TO PHYSICAL ORDER: PETTY CRIME....... 104 IV: CHALLENGES TO MORAL ORDER: DEVIANTS AND DELINQUENTS....................... 161 V: CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL HARMONY: CONTENTION........ 230 CONCLUSION............ :...................:............... 293 BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY....................................... 301 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 New Haven Petty Offenses, 1639-1698...... 118 Table 4.1 Colony Infractions by New Haven Residents, 1639-1698...................... 173 Table 5.1 Civil Actions in New Haven, 1640-1699.... 243 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 New Haven Local Laws By Decade, 1639-1698................................. 68 Figure 3.1 Percent Distribution of Petty Offenses By Decade, 1639-1698..................... 112 Figure 3.2 Percent Distribution of Military Convictions, Activity, and Acquittals, 1639-1665... .............................. 138 Figure 3.3 Percent Distribution of Livestock Case Resolutions, 1640-1664............. 147 Figure 4.1 Percent Distribution of Colony Offenses By Decade, 1639-1698........... 169 Figure 4.2 Percent Distribution of Alcohol Related Offenses By Decade, 1639-1698........... 201 Figure 4.3 Percent Distribution of Theft and Pilfering By Decade, 1639-1698.......... 207 Figure 4.4 Percent Distribution of Fornication Cases By Decade, 1639-1698.............. 212 Figure 5.1 Percent Distribution of Civil Suits in New Haven, 1640-1699. ................. 238 Figure 5.2 Percent Distribution of Livestock Litigation and Petty Offenses, 1639-1662 253 Figure 5.3 Arbitrated Cases in New Haven, 1639-1662 259 Figure 5.4 Percent Distribution of Debt and Replevin Cases in New Haven, 1640-1699.. 267 Figure 5.5 Percent Distribution of Slander Cases in New Haven, 1640-1699.................. 278 vi I y ABSTRACT I ORDER AND DISORDER IN EARLY CONNECTICUT: NEW HAVEN, 1639-1701 | I ROBERT W. ROETGER 3f University of New Hampshire, May, 1982 This dissertation assesses order and disorder in New Haven, Connecticut from its founding in 1639 to the intro­ duction of Justices of the Peace in 1701. It juxtaposes con­ cepts of the well-ordered society as expressed in puritan rhetoric with the reality of behavior as reflected in legal documents to illustrate the pre-eminent role assumed by law in ordering society. What emerges is a picture of society not rigidly caught up in the policies of perfection, but one characterized by responsive lawmaking, equally flexible en­ forcement, and reliance upon formal legal institutions to resolve private controversies. The study begins with a portrait of the well-ordered society. It was a God-ordained social order dictated by the religiosity of New Haven's founders and based on volun­ tary covenants which defined basic social institutions. Yet this picture soon faded as settlers encountered the conditions of life in New England. Voluntarism gave way to a new order vii as defined through law— local bylaws and colony statutes— that departed significantly from the Biblically based notion of law that helped delineate order in 1639. Challenges to order mirrored the growth of law which was traditional and secular. An examination of 900 violations of local bylaws illustrates that most disorders related to the physical adjustments of life in America. Furthermore, the petty offenders who violated these ordinances were well-estab­ lished members of the community who were prosecuted with a mixture of charity and pragmatism. So were individuals who violated colony statutes, thereby threatening
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