John Haynes (1594?-1654), American colonial leader, born in Essex, England. In 1633 he joined the Puritan immigration to America, settling in New Towne (now Cambridge), Massachusetts Bay Colony. As governor of the colony in 1635 and 1636, he banished the clergyman and subsequent founder of the Rhode Island colony, Roger Williams. In 1637 Haynes settled in Hartford, Connecticut, and helped frame a new governing code for the colony called the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. Known as the first written constitution in North America, this series of laws provided for the election of a governor, six assistants, and a legislative assembly and included several other democratic provisions. Haynes was elected governor in 1639 and was reelected under the provisions of the code in alternate years until his death.