Happy Birthday Connecticut!

As one of the original 13 colonies, Connecticut has an interesting founding story, from being the first state to write a constitution to being the fifth state to join the United States.

In fact, Connecticut became a state on Jan. 9, 1788 – 237 years ago today. However, the state’s history extends back much before that. To celebrate the state’s official birthday, here’s a look back at Connecticut’s history, from its very first settlements up until its statehood.

Connecticut history timeline

The journey to Connecticut becoming a state dates back thousands of years, as various Indigenous tribes have lived on the land for over 12,000 years. In fact, the name Connecticut comes from its first Indigenous inhabitants, who called the area “Quinatucquet,” an Algonquian word meaning “beside the long tidal river.”

Europeans first arrived in Connecticut in the early 1600s, with Dutch explorer Adriaen Block credited as the first European to explore the area in 1614. In the 1630s, the Dutch established a settlement near Hartford, while English settlements popped up in the modern-day towns of Windsor, Wethersfield and Saybrook.

In 1636, prominent Puritan minister Thomas Hooker traveled from the Boston area to Connecticut, officially founding Hartford. The towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield soon joined together to create the Connecticut River Colony.

Despite the well-established trade networks with Native Americans, in 1637, the Connecticut Colony officially declared war on the Pequot. The conflict, known as the Pequot War, ended in 1638 with the Treaty of Hartford, which forcefully disbanded the Pequot tribe, whose people dispersed among the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes.

Why is Connecticut nicknamed the Constitution State?

In 1639, Connecticut Colony wrote and adopted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a set of laws establishing Connecticut as its own colony separate from Massachusetts. This document is believed to be the first written constitution of a democratic government, which is why Connecticut is nicknamed “the Constitution state.” The Fundamental Orders governed Connecticut Colony until 1662, when England officially granted the colony a royal charter.

Connecticut went on to play an important part in the Revolutionary War, producing soldiers in the Connecticut Militia, leaders in the country’s founding documents and famous patriots like Nathan Hale. After the war, Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution and became the fifth state on Jan. 9, 1788 – 237 years ago today.

Who was Connecticut founded by?

While early Connecticut had various towns founded by different people, the establishment of Connecticut is credited to Thomas Hooker, the Puritan minister who founded Hartford.

Known as “the father of Connecticut,” Hooker was a leading figure of the Connecticut Colony and the official minister of Hartford. In 1638, Hooker preached a sermon about the right to choose one’s own government, laying down the groundwork for the Fundamental Orders.

This is Gov. Ned Lamont’s 2025 State of the State Address, as prepared.

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Senator Duff, Representative Rojas, Senator Harding, Representative Candelora, Annie Lamont, and the people of the great State of Connecticut.

This is a busy January. Today is the opening day of our 2025 legislative session, tomorrow our nation says goodbye to President Jimmy Carter, and in two weeks we say hello to President Donald Trump 2.0. This is a time of hope, sadness, and uncertainty.

Over the next month or two, we should have more insights into how the changing relationship with the new administration will affect our budget and our people, but for today let’s focus on what we can do to build on the progress we’ve made over the last six years.

As always, our north stars are affordability and opportunity, holding down costs of energy and healthcare and education, allowing you to keep more of what you earn and providing you the tools to let you earn more, buy a home, start a business.

We have significantly increased the minimum wage – and no that was not a job killer, we have more private sector jobs than ever before. We made it easier to start a family with one of the nation’s most robust paid family and medical leave programs, and yes, it is solvent.

We have one of the highest earned income tax credits so more working families pay little to no income tax, and no tax on their pension and no tax on their social security income.

And we implemented the biggest middle-class tax cut in our history – you keep more of what you earn – all the while keeping our budget in balance for the sixth straight year.

We have broken the bad habits of the past when we habitually put more and more costs on the taxpayers’ credit card for our children to pay down.

And by paying down these legacy costs, we have made state employee pensions more secure and we have freed up hundreds of millions of dollars in our budget to expand access to affordable childcare, affordable healthcare, and expanded education opportunities. And we are just getting started.

Affordability and opportunity, these are our Connecticut values.

Much of what we do in state government provides just enough to help you get by, but getting by is not enough, we are also here to help you get ahead.

Not just getting by, getting ahead.

We are upgrading our social service centers to be opportunity centers, where you can sign up for Medicaid and food assistance, and also free childcare and job training.

State government should be more than a safety net, we protect the vulnerable while also providing ladders to success.

I want our state government to be the foundation which opens the door to an amazing career through apprenticeships and free job training or sets you up to start your own business, be your own boss.

Over the last few years, we have had more new business startups than ever before – maybe it’s your neighbor with a solar installation company, or a home-based childcare center, right down the street from you, all with support from the Connecticut Boost Fund.

Entrepreneurship is not reserved for the private sector – let’s rethink our current services here in state government as well. To me, current services means status quo, and I’ve never been satisfied with the status quo and you shouldn’t be either.

We have a longer legislative session this cycle, giving us an opportunity to get in the weeds, lift up the hood, not always arguing about more money, but better results – not just more, but better – delivering results that make a difference by reducing costs to you and expanding opportunity for all.

Let’s start with the high price of electricity in our state. It certainly sparked a lot of discussion over the last six months.

Two years ago from this same dais, I asked the Energy and Technology Committee to work with us to evaluate how to best make electricity more affordable, by increasing supply and reducing demand.

These high prices impact all of us – working families, seniors on a fixed income, small businesses and large manufacturers. Everyone was mad as hell looking at their bills following the hottest July in recorded history – so was I.

Every business thinking about expanding in Connecticut or moving here asks about – no, not incentives – but the reliability and affordability of our electricity, as everything we do gets more energy intensive.

Advanced manufacturing and the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence demand more electricity, and as our economy continues to grow much faster than in years past, so does demand for electricity.

Feel free to debate whether you want to shift electricity costs from the ratepayers to taxpayers, or move from three to five PURA commissioners, but cosmetic changes won’t make a dime’s worth of difference.

What can make a difference, however, is increasing supply, especially low-carbon supply, starting with our investment in Revolution Wind, which is under construction right now, more commercial solar from Maine (foggy Maine you ask? Ironically, yes, since they have hundreds of acres of land for necessary commercial grade installations) – and don’t forget hydro from Canada.

These are our only options for generation in the near term, but over the next 10 years, we will need more electricity to meet the increased demand and hold down cost.

Nuclear power already provides most of our carbon-free power. That’s why we’re working with the federal government to find ways to expand nuclear capacity here in Connecticut.

Before you rule out natural gas, due primarily to methane emissions, that’s where most of our power comes from and will for the foreseeable future, especially without more nuclear power. We bring in very inexpensive natural gas from Pennsylvania, but that pipeline is at capacity, and LNG by foreign ships, which is more polluting and more expensive. Hey Congress, rethink the Jones Act.

Of course, the cheapest, and most timely solution is energy efficiency, with no extra demands on the grid reliability. The zero-pollution option is the electricity we do not use.

I want to give a shout out to Budderfly, a Connecticut company which is reducing electric bills for companies in Connecticut and beyond through better insulation, heat pumps, solar arrays – all with no upfront cost to the customer.

We’re also working on a no-cost, money saving efficiency program for your home. What say you, Energy Committee?

Speaking of affordability, healthcare costs are consuming more and more of your budget and our state budget. Just as we are bending the curve on fixed costs, such as pension contributions and debt payments, the costs of Medicaid and employee healthcare are spiking all while the Trump administration is rumored to be cutting back on healthcare subsidies for Medicaid and Obamacare, which will hit working families and small businesses hard.

As you know, I ran a smallish business that had no negotiating leverage when it came to buying healthcare, so helping our small businesses negotiate better pricing for their workers is a big priority for me.

Access Health CT is working to extend the individual benefits of being on the exchange to small businesses, and the Comptroller is working with the private sector to encourage our workers to seek hospitalization where they get the best quality at the best value.

Simultaneously, pharma costs have significantly increased as a share of our healthcare spend, and costs of hospital services have continued to rise. We have a kitchen cabinet working on healthcare affordability – that’s Deidre, Claudio, Andrea, Sean, and John Driscoll. We have an open door, big table, come join us.

We continue to encourage primary and preventative care, which keeps you healthier and keeps you out of the hospital. We’re also seeking better coordination with Medicaid for wrap-around services, which lets you age at home as an alternative to the nursing home.

The “too easy” solution is more subsidies, which only shift more costs to taxpayers or “heavy handed” price caps, which can result in unintended consequences.

Here’s an approach worth reconsidering. Last year, we proposed tying pharma price increases to the rate of inflation for generic drugs. This way pharmaceutical companies will still be incentivized to develop next generation therapies, but once off patent, these drugs will be much more affordable, and we must direct pharmacies to prescribe the lower cost generics when appropriate.

This reform could save you 50 cents on the dollar overnight.

I ask the Human Services and Insurance Committees, let’s get these cost savers over the finish line.

Connecticut boasts the best schools in the nation and unfortunately, some of the highest costs per pupil, which can drive up property taxes and tuition. Our budget will continue to increase the ECS funding per the bipartisan plan.

Last fall, I met with our state’s superintendents with a simple question: How are our kids doing? I heard many answers.

Take a look at the LEAP outreach. Knocking on the door of a kid who misses a lot of school, knocking on the door with a teacher or a friend saying, “We miss you,” goes a long way, which has helped reduce absenteeism.

Thea Montanez in our office is working on a proposal to expand our youth service corps, so that a seventh grader has an internship, or their older sibling maybe has a paying apprenticeship with a neighborhood business or nonprofit – a patriotic sense of giving back while lifting up our communities.

We want to continue making it easier and more affordable to be a teacher, including expanding our apprentice program, where third-year students at the teacher’s college get paid to help out in the classroom. We must make it less expensive to become a teacher and get young teacher aids in the classroom.

We also have more counselors at our schools, and I am told that getting smartphones out of the classroom has been incredible for learning and good for the soul.

Let’s keep that progress going. Many schools are getting phones not just out of the classroom but out of the school all together.

We’re also continuing to work with other states and social media companies to give parents more control over social media access.

And here is a DEI initiative, which folks on both sides of the aisle may appreciate. We’re doing outreach to get more men into teaching. Statistically, boys are most likely to be the disconnected youth. A few more male mentors in the classroom – and coaching – just might help. What say you, Education Committee?

Here’s a simple idea: thank a teacher. Kids and their teachers are stepping up to STEM learning, often in dozens of different languages, and bringing more trials and tribulations into the classroom. We keep asking our teachers to do more and more. Thank a teacher and ask how you can help out at home.

And over to the Higher Ed Committee – UConn is gaining students and increasing costs, CT State is losing students and increasing costs.

I have been reaching out to university presidents across the country who receive significantly less state funding per student. They maintain excellence, and yet they hold the line on tuition increases. They point to expanding the size of their student body, more capacity in the high demand majors including the sciences, while scaling back low-demand majors.

I want to give a shout out to Marty Guay, chair of the Board of Regents, who is reimagining our community colleges, which have suffered from 30% fewer students in the last decade.

Our debt-free community college program makes access easier, but innovation is overdue. We must develop a balance between traditional classroom experience, and more dual enrollment, stackable credentials, and flexible, online classes.

As the federal support for workforce development is at risk, we are reimagining the Office of Workforce Strategy to support their mission of streamlining the classroom to workplace pipeline.

We need the labor unions and AdvanceCT actively at the table to help us achieve that mission.

We have the greatest colleges and students from around the state, around the country, and around the world – all of whom want to study here in Connecticut.

Remember, if you graduate from a Connecticut college and take a job here, we will reimburse your company to help pay down your student debt. That gives you a good reason to stay here and gives companies a good reason to hire right here in Connecticut.

As we begin this session, I don’t want to forgo the work of our other legislative committees, so here’s a lightening round.

Insurance Committee: Very few of the businesses and homes which were impacted or destroyed by flooding in August had any flood insurance. What say you?

Judiciary Committee: How can we better protect our civil liberties, including reproductive rights, in the face of threats from Washington?

Labor Committee: The feds may try to weaken the right to organize. Don’t let it happen here.

Commerce Committee: Speed up regulatory decision making, without lowering standards. And hurry up about it.

General Law: America is a fast-moving innovation leader with a patchwork of regulation. Europe, a regulatory leader with very slow innovation. Let’s get that balance right.

Education Committee: Let’s build on the blue ribbon childcare commission. Let’s make a down payment on affordable, accessible early childcare for all of our families.

Transportation Committee: We’re outperforming our peers in putting federal infrastructure dollars to work and speeding up your commute, but we all know that our gas tax revenues are not keeping up. This is a tricky one.

Planning and Development and Housing Committees: We have doubled our commitment to housing with more new housing being built. But time is money. Speed up the permitting process. Get those shovels in the ground.

Our cities should be 50% bigger, as they were only a few generations ago. Let’s start by getting our workers back in the office.

Approps and Finance: We’ll talk between now and the budget address when we may have a better idea how the DOGE commission will impact our budget. Regardless, unlike D.C., our numbers have to add up.

OK, we can always spend more money promoting tourism, but a little creative juice goes a long way. Let me give a shout out to Anthony Anthony, our chief marketing officer. His immodest road signs declaring Connecticut the “Pizza Capital,” “Submarine Capital,” and “Basketball Capital of the World” attracted over six billion media impressions. That’s free publicity money can’t buy.

OK, some thought the signs a little cheeky. Italy questioned our claim as the “Pizza Capital,” the Boston Celtics wondered about the “Basketball Capital.”

As the great showman and Connecticut State Representative P.T. Barnum famously said, “I don’t care what they say about me, as long as they spell my name right.” More visitors are coming to Connecticut, and more and more like what they see and are staying.

And absolutely nobody complained when our road sign declared Connecticut as the “Home of the Winningest Coach in Basketball History” – Geno Auriemma.

Geno came here as a boy from Italy and helped more than a generation of young basketball players feel like winners and has helped our state be a winner. He represents the very best of Connecticut values – wherever you are from, whatever language you speak, whatever race, color, or creed, you have a home here on Team Connecticut.

Affordability and opportunity, not just getting by but getting ahead.  We’ll make sure you have the ladders to success, now it’s up to you to climb.

We’re here to help you get started. Let’s make it here.

God bless the Great State of Connecticut.