It is in a good state of preservation,
its lettering is clear and distinct, and so is the portrait
engraved upon it of King Charles the Second who gave it to
Governor John Winthrop. A part of its present frame is made from
the wood of the Charter Oak. The other copy, that is, what
remains of it, can be seen in the box which is owned by the
Historical Society.
When, after the Revolutionary War, the Colony of Connecticut
became the State of Connecticut, the charter of the colony was
adopted without alteration as the State Constitution. No change
was made in it until 1818.
The old oak tree, known to Indian legend and better known in
Connecticut's story, lived, honored and protected, until its fall
in the great storm of August 21, 1856.
REFERENCES
1. Trumbull, Benjamin.
History of Connecticut.
Maltby Goldsmith & Co. New Haven, 1818.
2. Trumbull, J. Hammond (editor).
Memorial History of
Hartford County. E. L. Osgood. Boston, 1886.
3. Andrews, Charles M. "The River Towns of Connecticut," in
Johns Hopkins University Studies, vn, 1-3,
September, 1889. Baltimore, 1889.
4. Love, Wm. De Loss.
The Colonial History of Hartford.
Hartford, 1914.
5. Love, Wm. De Loss. "Hartford, the Keeper of Connecticut's
Charter," in
Hartford in History, Willis J.
Twitchell (editor). Hartford, 1899.
6. Bates, Albert C. Article on "Charter Oak" in
Encyclopoedia Americana.
7. Hoadly, Charles J.
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