Oath of Allegiance
Administered at New Haven, in May 1666, under powers granted by Governor John Winthrop, according to his Majties Charter granted to this Colony of Connecticut in New England.
You J[asper] C[rane], doe sweare faith and Allegeance to his Majtie Charles ye Second, as duty binds according to ye word of God. And you doe hereby acknowledge that the Pope, nor any other potentate hath power or autority or iurisdiction in any of his Majties dominions, and yt only his Matie our sovern Lord King Charles hath under God, supreme power in his Maties dominions. And I doe abhor ye detestable opinion yt the pope hath powr to Depose princes. And this I doe from my hart, soe help me God.
On the 31 October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andros, Knt. took over into his hands the government of the Colony of Connecticut in New England.
In Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
The settlement of Rhode Island by Roger Williams, being partly occasioned by his refusal to take either the Oath of Fidelity, or the Stranger’s Oath to the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay will account for the absence of all Oaths of Allegiance in the early history of the Colony which he founded. From the first settlement of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to the present time an Oath could not be required of any one; but in its place is required a property qualification and an Affirmation.