Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in North America that became the U . S . state of Connecticut . Originally known as the River Colony , it was organized on March 3 , 1636 as a haven for Puritan gentlemen . After early struggles with the Dutch , the English had gained control of the colony permanently by the late 1630s . The colony was later the scene of a bloody and raging war between the English and Indians , known as the Pequot War . It played a significant role in the establishment of self - government in the New World with its refusal to surrender local authority to the Dominion of New England , an event known as the Charter Oak incident which occurred at Jeremy Adams ' inn & tavern . Two other English colonies in the present - day state of Connecticut were merged into the Colony of Connecticut : Saybrook Colony in 1644 and New Haven Colony in 1662 . Leaders . Thomas Hooker , a prominent Puritan minister , and Governor John Haynes of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , who led 100 people to present day Hartford in 1636 , are often considered the founders of the Connecticut colony . The sermon Hooker delivered to his congregation on the principles of government on May 31 , 1638 influenced those who would write the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut later that year . The Fundamental Orders may have been drafted by Roger Ludlow of Windsor , the only trained lawyer living in Connecticut in the 1630s , and were transcribed into the official record by the secretary , Thomas Welles . The Rev . John Davenport and merchant Theophilus Eaton are considered the founders of the New Haven Colony , which would be absorbed into Connecticut Colony in the 1660s . In the colony ' s early years , the governor could not serve consecutive terms . Thus , for twenty years , the governorship often rotated between John Haynes and Edward Hopkins , both of whom were from Hartford . George Wyllys , Thomas Welles , and John Webster , also Hartford men , sat in the governor ' s chair for brief periods in the 1640s and 1650s . John Winthrop the Younger of New London , the son of the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , played an important role in consolidating separate settlements on the Connecticut River into a single colony ; and he served as Governor of Connecticut from 1659 to 1675 . Winthrop was also instrumental in obtaining the colony ' s 1662 charter , which incorporated New Haven into Connecticut . His son , Fitz - John Winthrop , would also govern the colony for ten years , starting in 1698 . Roger Ludlow was an Oxford - educated lawyer and former Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who petitioned the General Court for rights to settle the area . Ludlow led the March Commission in settling disputes over land rights . He is credited as drafting the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut ( 1650 ) in collaboration with Hooker , Winthrop , and others . Ludlow was the first Deputy Governor of Connecticut . William Leete of Guilford served as governor of New Haven Colony before that colony ' s merger into Connecticut , and as governor of Connecticut following John Winthrop , Jr ' s death in 1675 . He is the only man to serve as governor of both New Haven and Connecticut . Robert Treat of Milford served as governor of the colony both prior to and after its inclusion in Sir Edmund Andros ' s Dominion of New England . His father , Richard Treat , was one of the original patentees of the colony . The colony enjoyed a string of strong governors in the 18th century , many being re - elected yearly until they died . Upon the death of Fitz - John Winthrop , Gurdon Saltonstall , Winthrop ' s minister in New London , was elected governor . Saltonstall was the only minister to serve as governor of Connecticut , and he belies the common misconception that Puritan clergy could not hold political office . Upon Saltonstall ' s death , Deputy Governor Joseph Talcott of Hartford became governor . Deputy Governor Jonathan Law of Milford succeeded to the position of governor upon Talcott ' s death . When Jonathan Law died , Deputy Governor Roger Wolcott of Windsor became governor . Wolcott , the father of Declaration of Independence signer Oliver Wolcott , was voted out of office in 1754 for his role in the Spanish Ship Case . Wolcott ' s successor , Thomas Fitch of Norwalk , guided the colony through the Seven Years ' War , but was , himself , voted out of office in 1766 for not being strong enough in his repudiation of the Stamp Act . William Pitkin of Hartford ( now East Hartford ) , the man who defeated Fitch , was a leader in the Sons of Liberty and also the cousin of former governor Roger Wolcott . Pitkin died in office in 1769 , and was replaced by Deputy Governor Jonathan Trumbull , a merchant from Lebanon . Trumbull , also a supporter of the Sons of Liberty , continued to be elected governor throughout the American Revolutionary War and retired as governor in 1784 , the year after the signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 , which granted the United States its independence from Great Britain .