On the surface, Thomas Hooker’s Hartford Election Sermon can be read as a political commentary, a sermon discussing democratic principles and governmental design. Hooker’s impact on colonial political history cannot be minimized, however, it is appropriate to place a larger emphasis on the sermon’s reliance on the Puritan’s religious doctrine. In analyzing the religious intent, rather than the political implications of Hooker’s sermon, there is a strong emphasis on the Puritan theology. The 1638 sermon carries a Puritan outlook by emphasizing that a congregation’s obligation and “privilege of election” was derived from “God’s own allowance.” Hooker declared that because the “foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people,”