was a simple agreement among themselves that they would all "be
ordered by those rules which the Scripture holds forth." At this
meeting on June 4, l639, they decided that they would continue to
accept the Bible as a code of laws, and that only church members
should hold office or have the right to vote for magistrates.
They did this under the direction of John Davenport, who in one
of his writings had described this colony as "a new Plantation
whose design is religion." This agreement, made in Robert
Newman's barn, was known as the "Fundamental Agreement." Twelve
men were appointed on that day who chose seven from among
themselves to found a church. These seven men were called the
"Seven Pillars." On August 22, the "Seven Pillars" met and
established a church, and on the 25th of October they met again
and set up the civil government.

[Illustration: MEDAL COMMEMORATING THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE FOUNDING OF NEW HAVEN.]

Like the Connecticut Colony, the New Haven Colony in setting up
its government made no reference to any authority beyond itself;
the people elected their own magistrates and made their own laws.
But the New Haven Colony was unlike Connecticut in one important
respect. In New Haven no man could vote or hold a place in the
government unless he was a church member. This led later to much
discontent among some of the people, and was one reason, among
others, for the failure of New Haven as a separate colony and for
its beng absorbed, twenty-five years afterward,--in 1664,--into
the larger and more liberal Connecticut Colony.

Meanwhile, even before the government was organized, the