Although there was little in the Fundamental Orders, as settled in 1639, which cannot be found in previous custom or legislation in Massachusetts or Plymouth, nevertheless, only those elements which were of a democratic tendency were put into the new constitution, and there was distinctly a more democratic attitude on the part of the leaders and people than in the Bay Colony. Such provisions as that making the governor ineligible for immediate reëlection, and the franchise independent of religious qualification, probably show a reaction from the rule of Massachusetts. The contrasted influences which the new colony and its parent were bringing to bear upon the development of American thought at this time may best be illustrated by the theories of their several leaders. Perhaps the two most influential men in New England in 1640, and the two who most deserved the positions assigned them, were John Winthrop, the leader in Massachusetts, and Thomas Hooker, the leader in Connecticut. Winthrop's opinion of democracy as “the worst of all forms of government,” we have already noted, and may contrast with Hooker's belief that the complete control of their rulers “belongs unto the people by Gods own allowance.” In the important question whether judges should render arbitrary decisions wholly according to their personal views, or be limited by a fundamental body of laws, the two leaders were equally far apart. “Whatsoever sentence the magistrate gives,” wrote Winthrop, who opposed any such limitation, “the judgment is the Lord's, though he do it not by any rule prescribed by civil authority.”[468] “That in the matter which is referred to the judge,” asserted Hooker, on the other hand, “the sentence should lie in his breast, or be left to his discretion, according to which he should go, I am afraid it is a course which wants both safety and warrant. I must confess, I ever looked at it as a way which leads directly to tyranny, and so to confusion, and must plainly profess, if it was in my liberty, I should choose neither to live nor leave my posterity under such a government.”[469] Footnote 468: _Connecticut Historical Society Collections_, vol. I, p. 17. Footnote 469: Letter to Winthrop, _Ibid._, p. 11.