The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut

The monograph traces the development of Congregationalist principles from their English origins through transplantation to New England and the formation of local church polity. It follows theological and institutional debates that produced a formal church platform, a partial membership covenant, and the Saybrook system, and examines how colonial legislatures alternately enforced and relaxed ecclesiastical authority. Attention is given to dissenting groups and their struggles over taxation, exemption, and recognition, and to the political coalitions and reforms that gradually narrowed church privileges and culminated in legal separation of church and state and expanded protections for conscience.