Increase Mather

Defender of Massachusetts

 

 
Increase Mather was the leading minister of Massachusetts Bay when Sir Edmund Andros became governor of the colony in 1686. He was also President of Harvard College, which made him a very important person.  Mather believed very strongly that Massachusetts was a special place where people could practice what he and other Puritans believed to be the true religion. 

Mather thought that the colony's original charter helped to keep Massachusetts Bay that kind of place.  The charter had been given to the Bay colony's founders by King Charles I in 1630.  It allowed them to elect their own leaders, establish town governments, distribute land, and make many of their own decisions.  The colonists could even make laws they believed they needed, so long as those laws did not conflict with English law.  Under this charter, the Massachusetts Puritans created a system of self-government that they thought would suit their needs, keep them free, and keep their religion pure.

Increase Mather and other Massachusetts leaders were very upset when Edmund Andros came with news that the King James had taken away their old charter.  They became even more alarmed when Governor Andros got rid of their elected assembly and began creating new laws and new taxes without the colonists' consent.  He even called on colonial landowners to hand over their old titles to their property.  Andros wanted to issue new ones that charged colonists a yearly fee called a quitrent.  Those who refused to pay the quitrent could have their property seized and sold to someone else.

Increase Mather decided to sail for England and appeal to King James himself to restore the original charter.  One of Governor Andros's officials, Edward Randolph, tried to stop Mather by sending an officer to arrest him.  Mather happened to be away when the officer came to his door, and he hid out for the next few days.  When the time came to leave for England, Mather could not get aboard his ship in Boston because it was too well watched.  He had to let the ship leave Boston without him!  When it was safely out to sea, Mather rode in a small, fast sailboat, caught up with the ship, and climbed aboard.

Increase Mather arrived in England in May, 1688, six months before Parliament forced James II from the throne.  Mather met with James several times, but could not persuade the king to restore the charter or to protect the colonists' rights against Sir Edmund Andros.  Still, Mather did not give up.  He work very hard to make friends with important people in England.  He paid close attention to news of what was happening.  He realized that big changes were on the way, and he did everything he could to get ready for them. 

When William and Mary were crowned King and Queen of England, Increase Mather hoped they would listen to him and restore the old charter of Massachusetts Bay.  After all, William had promised that when he came to England, he would restore whatever charters James had done away with.

Increase Mather did not find it so easy to persuade William and Mary.  At first the new king and queen wanted to send letters ordering New Englanders to accept Sir Edmund Andros and his Dominion of New England.  Mather managed to delay those orders long enough for Massachusetts to have its own Glorious Revolution.  Then Mather had to convince the king and queen that Sir Edmund Andros was a tyrant, and that the New Englanders had revolted against him out of loyalty to William and Mary.  Only then could he begin working to get the charter back.

It took almost four years, but William and Mary finally gave Increase Mather and the colonists of Massachusetts a new charter that undid much of Sir Edmund Andros's damage.  The people could elect a representative assembly.  The local governments could meet as often as they needed to. The landowners would get their original titles back. Massachusetts would even get more territory:  the former Pilgrim colony of Plymouth would become part of Massachusetts.  But the king would appoint the governor, and the English Bill of Rights would prevent the Puritans from making it difficult for non-Puritan English Protestants to live in Massachusetts.

Increase Mather was not completely satisfied, but he hid whatever disappointment he felt and thanked William and Mary for the new charter.  He had actually done very well for Massachusetts, and he did not hesitate to tell the colonists so.  When he got back to America he celebrated the new limited monarchy and the English Bill of Rights.  He bragged that these made England and its American colonies one of the freest empires the world had ever seen.