The New Massachusetts Charter

Now Witches Can be Tried

Oct 21, 2006 Mary Trotter Kion

Increase Mather returns from London with the new charter. Now accused witches can be tried, rather than merely held chained to prison walls.

The colonial charter that the original Pilgrims had brought with them was revoked in 1684. By 1692, the year the witch situation began in Salem, Village, the charter had not been restored. With the loss of the charter the colonists ceased to have any legal right to their lands.

Increase Mather Brings Charter

Increase Mather, father of Cotton Mather, had sailed to London to obtain a new charter. But in his absence there had been more immediate concerns in Massachusetts. Small pox epidemics had broken out and Indian raids were on the rise. There was also one other major situation that had begun and spread like the very devil that it was that Mather would have no knowledge of until he returned.

In the middle of May Mather did return from England. With him was the new charter, and one other person, a new governor Sir William Phipps. "The new governor was a man Cotton Mather had personally baptized. He was one of Cotton's dearest friends."

Massachusetts had been without a governor since 1689. Since that time, without a legal government, there could only be "preliminary examinations, not trials, of accused witches." That was soon to change.

But now that Increase Mather had returned with the new charter Massachusetts was no longer a colony but an official province. However, as advantageous this may appear for all concerned it had dire drawbacks for the more affluent Puritans.

New Rules to Live By

The new charter decreed that Puritans "could no longer enforce Puritan worship on the populace or outlaw other religions," such as the Quakers who they had been pleased to hang. Now, instead of only male church members being allowed to vote, all male property owners had that privilege.

When Increase Mather, with the new charter in hand, and Sir William Phipps stepped onto the docks at Boston they were suddenly faced with a situation they had never expected to greet them. The prisons of Salem, as well as Boston and Ipswich were "full to overflowing with witches."

Recommended Reading:

The Girls of Salem Village: Scarlet Bodice, Bright Turban, And The Charter

Sources:

Hill, Frances. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials. De Capo Press, 1995.

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