Politics and Political Parties

While Connecticut is known as the "Constitution State" (Connecticut was the first state to have a written constitution—Fundamental Orders), Connecticut could just as easily be known as the "Land of Steady Habits." This description is largely a result of the state's conservative philosophy—a philosophy which can be traced to the state's Puritan beginnings. This conservative philosophy continues in many current aspects of Connecticut's life.

During the decades between 1780 and 1850 the influence of the church, small town, and farm orientation cannot be overstated for it greatly affected the advent of political parties and the philosophy on which they stood. Political parties, based largely from their beginnings on national issues, were slow to take root in Connecticut and have tended to react to events rather than initiate actions.

With Connecticut's adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1788 (Connecticut was the firm state to adopt the Constitution), political parties began to form over the issue of a strong central government: the Federalists were led by President George Washington, and those who opposed a strong central government, the Republicans, were led by Thomas Jefferson.

The Federalists believed it was necessary to create a Bank of the United States, to pay off both the national and state debts, and to levy and collect new taxes, most notably an excise tax on whiskey. The Jeffersonian Republicans feared a strong central government, opposed the creation of the Bank, and, in general, charged that the new central government was serving the interests of the few rich rather than the interests of the common people.

Though slow to get started in Connecticut, the Federalist party soon became so deeply entrenched in state politics that nearly thirty years passed before the Republicans successfully challenged Federalist domination of state government. Instead of trying to win elections by campaigning on the national issues, the Republicans ignored them almost completely and took stands on state and local issues. Because some of these stands were becoming increasingly popular, the Republicans began to attract more voters to their ranks. The issue used most effectively by the Republicans was the tie between church and state in Connecticut

In 1816, a new party was formed which finally accomplished the overthrow of the Federalists in Connecticut. The Toleration party argued for disestablishment in religion. This ultimately led to the calling of a constitutional convention to draft a new constitution for Connecticut.

The Toleration party's candidate for governor in 1816, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., was a perfect choice. In name-conscious Connecticut, the name Wolcott was held in high esteem. He was the son and grandson of governors, and for years had been a Federalist. He had served as secretary of the treasury in President Adams' cabinet and had been a successful businessman in mercantile, banking, and manufacturing pursuits.

In the election of 1816 Wolcott received nearly half of the votes cast, and the Tolerationists secured eighty-five seats in the Assembly, the highest non-Federalist total in the history of the state. The Federalists, sensing that they were in real trouble, hastily passed legislation designed to appease the dissenters, but it was to no avail. In the election of April 1817 Oliver Wolcott won the governorship of Connecticut by a margin of nearly six hundred votes, and the Tolerationists achieved significant gains in the House of Representatives.

In 1776 when the Continental Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, it had instructed the thirteen colonies to draw up new plans of government for them­selves. Most of them did, usually calling a convention for that purpose. Connecticut, however, did not. The General Assembly had simply decided that the colonial charter of 1662 based on the Fundamental Orders of 1639 had served the people well and it it should not be discarded.

Forty years of debate followed, and with the spring elections of 1818, the "Constitution and Reform" ticket, as me Toleration party now called itself, swept the elections. Wolcott was reelected, and the Federalists lost their majorities in the General Assembly. In addressing the opening of the legislative session. Governor Wolcott focuses attention on the widespread support for the calling of a constitutional conven­tion, and the Assembly quickly issued such a call.

The new Constitution of 1818 signaled the virtual end of the old Federalist party, and it also initiated a period between 1818 and 1865 during which there was the birth and death of a series of political parties.

With the demise of the Federalists, the victorious Republicans fared only slightly better, splitting into conservative and liberal wings within ten years. With the rise of Jacksonian Democrats, the conservative Republicans first became the National Republicans, then evolved into the Whigs, and finally perished in the antislavery agitation of the 1850's. Out of the wreckage of the Whigs and the disorganization of the Democrats came a number of splinter parties which enjoyed brief careers.

The Know-Nothing party based on anti-immigrant sentiment was one of these groups, but it was forced to share the political stage with Free Soil and Temperance Supporters. At other times in the years between 1818 and the end of the Civil War, Connecticut citizens also tried the Anti-Masonic and Union parties. Shortly after the Civil War, Connecticut's voters finally settled down within that two-party system which a contemporary resident would recognize.

These parties and coalitions were attempts to capitalize on the new issues raised by a rapidly changing social scene. The Jacksonian Democrats, for example, grew out of the egalitarian sentiments of the 1820's and 1830's. The Democrats, attempting to liberalize Connecticut's government, advocated universal manhood suffrage. The later Free Soil party was, as its name suggests, an antislavery faction which provided a political home for citizens impatient with the cautious compromises of the major parties.

In these and other political groups the main issues of the day such as abolition, union, temperance, nativism, liberalism, and traditional conservatism were solidified and reflected. During the Civil War the Republicans controlled the politics of Connecticut, and William A, Buckingham was governor throughout the entire war, the only governor in the country to have this distinction. The war and Governor Buckingham unified the Republicans, but with peace in 1865, the Republican party in Connecticut, like the Republicans on the national level, split into two factions over the issue of the Reconstruction of the South.

During the period of 1865 to 1895 the two major parties were fairly evenly divided with the Republicans having the edge—seven Republican governors served for fifteen years and five Democratic governors served for ten years.

In several of the gubernatorial elections, notably in 1871,1886, 1888, and 1890, no candidate received a majority of the vote cast. On these occasions the 1818 Constitution provided that the choice of a governor would be made by the General Assembly. Since the Assembly was dominated by Republicans, the Republican candidate would be elected even if the Democratic candidate had received a plurality of the popular vote. It was not until 1901 that the General Assembly decided that a plurality rather than a majority would be required for election to state office.

A major issue in the last decades of the nineteenth century was the matter of where to locate the state capital. Since early Colonial times when New Haven joined the Connecticut colony, Connecticut had two capitals, one at Hartford and one at New Haven, with the legislature meeting alternately in the two places. Many citizens and state officials complained about the inefficiency of the arrangement, especially at a time of growing population and industrial expansion with a consequent increase in the responsibilities of the state government. In the past the two cities had been com­petitors over such matters as railroad terminals, Civil War contracts, and industrial leadership, but in the 1870's the principal issue was the location of the state capital. Finally in 1875 a referendum was held and Hartford was chosen.

A second issue was the status of women. Women continued to be second-class citizens in many respects. By an act of the General Assembly in 1877 married women were given the right to control their own property. Moreover, the act held that in all marriages contracted "Neither husband nor wife shall acquire, by force of marriage, any right to or interest in any property held by the other before marriage, or acquired after marriage." Furthermore, the separate earnings of the wife were to be her sole property, and the wife had the power "to make contracts with third persons, and to convey to them her real and personal estate, in the same manner as if she were married."

Twenty years later Connecticut law permitted a married woman to assume such legal responsibilities as being appointed, without the consent of her husband, the executrix of wills or the administratrix of estates of which she was the "heir-at-law." In addition she could become the guardian of any minor and the conservator of any incapable person other than her husband.

The Republicans controlled Connecticut politics from 1894 to 1915. During this period there were nine Republican governors and only one Democratic. The Republican governors served for a total of eighteen years, and the one Democratic governor, Simeon E. Baldwin, served for four years. In the General Assembly the Republicans dominated the rural-dominated House and controlled the Senate from 1887 to 1913.

Until the tremendous influx of European immigrants in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, both the Republican and the Democratic parties in Connecticut had been controlled by old-stock Yankees. The conservatives tended to belong to the Republican party and the liberals to the Democratic party.

The Civil War and the 1896 presidential campaign caused many conservative Democrats to shift their allegiance to the Republican party. The remaining liberal Democrats not only encouraged the European immigrants to join their party, but were also interested in incorporating many of their progressive ideas into their party plat­forms. The new Americans, particularly the Irish, moved into the vacuum left by the departure of the conservative, old-stock Democrats.

The aim of the progressives and the liberals was to give more political power to the people. To this end, they advocated the direct primary, more convenient voting hours for workers, more home rule for the cities, the popular election of county commissioners, and the reapportionment of the General Assembly. They also favored civil service reform and legislation to outlaw corrupt practices then existing in government.

In order to lessen the tremendous influence of big business in Connecticut govern­ment and politics, the Democratic party, led by these progressives, worked for state regulation of public utilities and insurance companies. In order to strengthen labor unions, the Democrats tried to legalize picketing and the boycott. They also pushed antitrust legislation, prohibition of water pollution, pure food and drug legislation, truth in advertising, and limits on interest rates.

Underlying the political philosophy of the Connecticut urban liberal Democrats and progressives were the assumptions that the state and national governments were responsible for developing more democracy and equality in government, for providing for the welfare of the people, for advancing the interests of labor organizations, and for establishing the regulation of big business.

During the last decade of the nineteenth century, however, the Connecticut General Assembly had little interest in reform and was very much concerned with the retention of the status quo. It thus took years before enough liberal-minded lawmakers were elected who were willing to begin to enact reform legislation.

Beginning with the gubernatorial election of 1910, reform in Connecticut gained momentum. The string of Republican governors was finally broken by the election of Simeon E. Baldwin, the first Democratic governor elected since 1892.

Perhaps the most important of the political reforms enacted under Governor Baldwin was the Connecticut Civil Service Law of 1913. This law made it necessary for all applicants for state jobs, except unskilled laborers and holders of elective and appointive positions, to pass an examination in order to get on the state payroll.

With the international events which led the United States in 1917 into World War I, Connecticut became part of a nation and tended to increasingly reflect the experience of a nation. Connecticut was entering a new era—an era that exists even today—where local issues were no longer the driving force in the state's political arena.

Connecticut on the eve of World War I was a fragmented state with a population divergent in background and outlook. Beginning in the 1880's large numbers of Irish, Italian, Hungarians, Poles and Russians entered the state and soon outnumbered the Anglo-Saxons. Over seventy percent of the population according to the 1910 census were either first- or second-generation American and two-thirds of the population lived in urban centers.

The pressure of immigration and changed living styles altered the physical and psychological balance of the state. To the Yankee leadership of Connecticut, uneasy about the increasing economic stratification and cultural diversity. World War I pre­sented an opportunity to develop a new sense of community. Employers, workers, native Americans, and recent immigrants all competed to make sacrifices in the name of patriotism. The war effort produced increased prosperity, due to the nation's heavy reliance on Connecticut-based industry which manufactured war materials.

However, with the end of the war and the decreased need for war materials, Connecticut's economy was disrupted with large numbers of people unemployed. Even with this problem it was apparent that businessmen, many of whom had directed the war industries, ran the political and governmental structure. During the 1920's the Manufacturers Association representing 800 of the largest industrial firms, and the Chamber of Commerce, a more broadly-based group, were influential enough to constitute in essence a third branch of government.

The warmest friend of business interests was the Republican party. J. Henry Roraback, chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, from 1910 until his death in 1937, was at the peak of his power in the 1920's. Roraback ruled the party with an iron hand: he picked the candidates, determined the legislative priorities, and assigned the committee posts. Between 1920 and 1930 the GOP controlled both houses of the General Assembly and occupied every statewide office.

Roraback personified the interlocking of business and government in Connecticut during the 1920's. A Canaan lawyer, Roraback was instrumental in developing hydro­electric power and merged four small companies into the Connecticut Light and Power Company in 1917. As President of CL&P, the state's largest power company, Roraback saw no conflict between his political role and his business career.

With the collapse of the economy following the stock market crash in 1929, the Republican party continued to ignore the plight of the cities and the growing political muscle of immigrant residents. The consequence of this "business as usual attitude" was the election of Wilbur L. Cross as governor in 1930, the first Democratic guber­natorial victory in almost fifteen years.

Cross, with his rural Gurleyville heritage, was able to assure the small-town resident that he was no radical; as a retired dean of the Yale Graduate School and Editor of the Yale Review he appealed to the intellectual; and with his folksy, low-keyed manner he convinced the urban voter that he cared about their suffering.

With the election of Franklin Roosevelt as president. New Deal initiatives on the national level redistributed political power in Connecticut. Businessmen stunned by economic forces they could no longer control were subject to more rigorous government regulation. Because of New Deal encouragement and support from a sympathetic Governor Cross, who was governor until 1939, labor unions increased their membership and political influence. By 1940 the Democratic party had reduced the Republicans to minority status for the first time in a century.

With the advent of World War II, as was the case during the depression of the 1930's, Federal power was greatly increased. Control over such vital areas as produc­tion, manpower priorities, rationing, and prices became federal responsibilities.

During the immediate postwar years issues such as housing, education, health care, and unemployment were ignored. However, Governor Chester Bowles, a man driven by a compulsion to get things done, challenged Connecticut to face its problems. Bowles, for two hectic years (1948-1949), battled with a Republican-controlled legis­lature to provide funding for housing, schools, mental hospitals, and welfare payments.

Bowles was defeated after one term and described to have been too impatient with the "Land of Steady Habits." Subsequent governors have not made this mistake, and state government has even today been placed in a subordinate role in shaping social change in Connecticut.

Coincidentally with the death of Roraback in 1937, a young Hartford precinct chairman was beginning to take hold of the Democratic party. John M. Bailey became chairman of the state Democratic party in 1946 and served until he died in 1975, the longest tenure of any state chairman of either party in Connecticut's history. He was in the tradition of Irish control of the party. But Bailey not only participated in the election of the first Irish (or Catholic) President; he was also the prime mover in the election of a Jewish senator; presided over the election of a woman governor of Italian ancestry; and supported the first black to Connecticut statewide office. Under his leadership the Democrats completed their long climb from a distant second to the dominant political party of Connecticut.

Bailey was from a fourth-generation Irish family. He was a Harvard graduate who acted as though he wanted to hide the fact and look like the stereotyped Irish political boss. One of his classmates at Harvard Law School included John Davis Lodge, who became Governor in 1951 after defeating Chester Bowles.

The political upheaval caused by the great Depression had a marked effect on Connecticut. Following the election of Wilbur L. Cross, a Democrat, in 1930, statewide elections became close, and the two parties became tightly organized and strongly balanced. The governorship shifted from the near-Republican monopoly of the earlier years to an almost even division for a quarter of a century, during which elections were rarely won by a vote of more than fifty-seven percent.

From the 1954 election of Abraham Ribicoff as governor, the Democrats began to build a registration advantage that was more than 220,000 by the time William A. O'NeiIl was elected in 1982. The Democrats have also held the General Assembly in all these years except from 1971 to 1975 when Thomas Meskill was governor. (See Tables 1 and 2.)

Governor Ribicoff carried on the tradition of Governor Cross of being a full-time governor but was far more active and involved in political and governmental activities than Cross. Ribicoff resigned in 1961 to become President Kennedy's Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and later served in the U.S. Senate for three terms. With Ribicoff's departure Lt. Governor John N. Dempsey, former Mayor of Putnam, became governor.

Dempsey, during his ten years in office, perpetuated the Ribicoff tradition of activism, particularly in the late 1960's when he had to deal with the urban riots. The state responded by creating the Department of Community Affairs and infusing tens of millions of dollars into the state's distressed cities.

Governor Dempsey declined renomination in 1970 and was succeeded by Thomas J. Meskill, the congressman from the Sixth Congressional District and former mayor of New Britain. The only Republican governor elected since 1954, Meskill established the Department of Environmental Protection, which became a national model with its tough environmental standards.

During the Meskill term, a seventh-grade Canton student named Barnaby Horton filed suit in the courts charging that the method of state financing of education—the flat grant per pupil formula—was unconstitutional. Horton argued that while the state's constitution requires that a free and equal education be provided each school-aged child, this did not occur because some school districts were tax poor (they have to tax at a higher rate than tax wealthy districts to raise the same revenue), and thus not all students were being provided an equal education. The court ruled in Horton's favor and required the General Assembly to develop a new school aid program. This new school aid program, Guaranteed Tax Base, is still an issue in the courts and has because of its complexity repeatedly caused administrative problems for the State Department of Education.

Governor Meskill declined to run for a second term and was succeeded by Ella T. Grasso. Both Governors Meskill and Grasso had served as congresspersons from the Sixth District prior to being elected governor. Prior to her election to Congress, Governor Grasso served as Secretary of State for twelve years.

The first woman elected in her own right as governor of any state, Ella Grasso inherited a large deficit. With the state's inelastic tax structure, both Meskill and Grasso had to juggle increased demands for services with the instability of the state's revenue structure.

Governor Grasso placed her primary emphasis on economic development and helped form an aggressive Department of Economic Development to aid large and small businesses who wanted to expand or relocate in Connecticut.

With her resignation (December 31, 1980) due to poor health, Governor Grasso was succeeded by Lt. Governor William A. O'Neill, a former state Democratic party chairman, twelve-year legislator, and majority leader in the House of Representatives. Governor O'Neill was elected to his own term in November, 1982 and has generally expanded upon the policies of his predecessor. The major initiatives of the O'Neill administration to date have been in the areas of improving the quality of secondary education, economic development—particularly high-technology firms—and the am­bitious ten-year, $5.5 billion highway, bridge, and dam infrastructure repair program.

Over the past thirty years Connecticut's political leaders have largely been on the cautious side of the political spectrum. While there have been sparks of innovation, Connecticut politicians have mirrored the state's residents who are satisfied with the "Land of Steady Habits." The demographics of Connecticut—high level of first-second- and third-generation immigrants, high per-capita income, high level of educa­tion, steady manufacturing, and defense oriented businesses—have all pointed the political leaders in the direction of cautiousness.

The control of the state's political apparatus by individuals such as Roraback and Bailey suggests that their philosophy has been politically correct. Within the contem­porary Democratic party, Ribicoff, Dempsey and Grasso, for example, were all indi­viduals out of the Bailey mold who did not stray too far from the Bailey philosophy.

The Republican party has not, in recent times, had the cohesive leadership which the Democrats have enjoyed. The Republican leadership vacuum has currently been picked up by Lowell P. Weicker, a third-term U.S. Senator and former congressman and first selectman of Greenwich.

The political balance for district offices (congressman, General Assembly and municipal) have over the past twenty years largely followed the voting of the statewide elections with respect to numerical balances. (See Table 2.)

In November 1982, Democrat William A. O'Neill won the governorship with fifty-four percent of the vote to Republican Lewis B. Rome's forty-six percent, and Republican Lowell Weicker was reelected to the Senate by fifty-two percent of the vote to Democrat Congressman Toby Moffet's forty-eight percent of the vote.

With the fall elections of 1984 the Democrats were handed a real surprise with the Republicans capturing both houses of the General Assembly—the first time this has happened since the 1972-74 General Assembly term—and picked up one more congressional seat.

As of October 1984, Democratic party registration in Connecticut was 718,772 (40%); Republican, 477,749 (26%); and unaffiliated, 608,613 (34%).