How New Haven Helped Build a Nation

New Haven turns 242 this week – during our nation’s 250th year!

We’re thrilled to partner with the City of New Haven’s America 250 Commission to offer residents a year packed with celebrations and opportunities to explore both our city’s rich history and the story of our nation. To complement these events, we’ll be sharing a series of blog posts that highlight America’s semi-quincentennial through the lens of New Haven.

The essay below, written by local author and Adult Services Librarian Catherine Egan, kicks off our year-long celebration while providing a brief overview of the role New Haven played in the fight for our nation’s independence.

Interested in learning more? Our Local History department and online collections can help!

New Haven’s Role in the Nation’s Independence

by Catherine Egan | Adult Services Librarian

New Haven has a long history as a Sanctuary City for its residents. The New Haven Colony was founded on land purchased from the Quinnipiacs in 1638 by John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton as a refuge for Puritans. The colony offered shelter to the judges Edward Whalley and William Goffe (the “regicide judges”) when they fled a death sentence in England after voting for the execution of Charles I. You can still visit Judge’s Cave on West Rock and walk Regicide Trail!

After being absorbed into the Connecticut Colony, New Haven became a “co-capital,” along with Hartford, in 1701. The town was a prosperous place of religious tolerance, while the recently established Yale College grew to become a leader in the academic world. In the decades before the Revolutionary War, New Haven ran as an early democracy with citizens governing their own town and electing their public officials.

During the Revolutionary War, the city was a military supply hub, using the New Haven Green was a staging area for troops. Benedict Arnold famously demanded the keys to New Haven’s powder house before joining the Revolution, which is why Powder House Day is still celebrated in April in New Haven with a military march! George Washington came to New Haven on his way to take control of the Continental Army in 1776, demonstrating New Haven’s strategic importance. In a less welcome visit that also demonstrates New Haven’s significance, the city was invaded by the British in 1779.

New Haven was also home to Roger Sherman, the only Founding Father to sign all four U.S. founding documents: the Articles of Association in 1774, the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Articles of Confederation in 1781, and the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Elected 1784, Sherman served as New Haven’s first mayor. He was also the creator of the Connecticut Compromise, whereby each state gets two senators while the number of representatives varies by state population.

While the small city of New Haven played an important part in the establishment of the United States both during and after the Revolution, it was also a very early example of self-governance, growth, and refuge in a country that was still coming into being.

Additional Artifacts

Sources

Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution. (n.d.). Battle of New Haven. https://www.sarconnecticut.org/battle-of-new-haven/

Cregeau, D. (2020, May 12). Top ten demolished houses of Revolutionary War-era Connecticut. Journal of the American Revolution. https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/05/top-ten-demolished-houses-of-revolutionary-war-era-connecticut/

Finlay, N. (2020, November 4). A separate place: The New Haven Colony, 1638–1665. ConnecticutHistory.org. https://connecticuthistory.org/a-separate-place-the-new-haven-colony-1638-1665/

InfoNewHaven. (n.d.). History. https://www.infonewhaven.com/history/

Library of Congress. (ca. 1798). To all brave, healthy, able‑bodied and well‑disposed young men … [Broadsides‑1770‑1780; print]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001700432/

Roger Sherman House, New Haven [Photograph]. (2020). AllThingsLiberty. https://allthingsliberty.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Roger-Sherman-House-New-Haven.jpg

Sons Of The American Revolution. General David Humphreys Branch. (1911) Revolutionary characters of New Haven; the subject of addresses and papers delivered before the General David Humphreys branch, no. 1, Connecticut society, Sons of the American revolution; also list of men so far as they are known from the territory embraced in the town of New Haven, Connecticut, who served in the Continental army and militia and on Continental and state vessels and privateers, and those who rendered other patriotic services during the revolution, and a record of known casualties comp. by W. S. Wells; together with the location of known graves in and about New Haven of patriots of -1783. And catalogue of the officers and members of Gen. David Humphreys branch since its organization. [New Haven, Conn., General David Humphreys branch, no. 1, Connecticut society, Sons of the American Revolution] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/11018995/.

Visit New Haven. (n.d.). History. https://visitnewhaven.com/things-to-do/history/

Yale Teachers Institute. (n.d.). History of early New Haven: A connection to our past (Unit 03.02.04). https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/2003/2/03.02.04/3

Yale University Art Gallery. (1918). [Artwork formerly owned by Roger Sherman]. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.