Dictionary.net

(1639-1723), was pastor of the North Church, Boston, from 1664 till his death. He was prominent both in church and State. He was opposed to the "half-way covenant," and secured the summoning of the synods of 1679 and 1680. He zealously opposed the surrender of the Massachusetts charter to Charles II. in 1683, and secured a new charter for the colony in 1688. He was president of Harvard College from 1685 to 1701. He wrote a life of Reverend Richard Mather, "A History of the War with the Indians," and many other works.