Editing Cotton Mather (section)

== Relationship with Harvard and Yale ==

Cotton Mather was a [[President and Fellows of Harvard College|fellow of Harvard College]] from 1690 to 1702, and at various times sat on its [[Harvard Board of Overseers|Board of Overseers]].  His father Increase had succeeded [[John Rogers (Harvard)|John Rogers]] as [[President of Harvard University|president of Harvard]] in 1684, first as acting president (1684–1686), later with the title of "rector" (1686–1692, during much of which period he was away from Massachusetts, pleading the Puritans' case before the Royal Court in London), and finally with the full title of president (1692–1701).  Increase was unwilling to move permanently to the Harvard campus in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], since his congregation in Boston was much larger than the Harvard student body, which at the time counted only a few dozen.  Instructed by a committee of the Massachusetts General Assembly that the president of Harvard had to reside in Cambridge and preach to the students in person, Increase resigned in 1701 and was replaced by the Rev. [[Samuel Willard]] as acting president.{{sfn|Silverman|2002|p=178}}

Cotton Mather sought the presidency of Harvard, but in 1708 the fellows instead appointed a layman, [[John Leverett the Younger|John Leverett]], who had the support of Governor Dudley.{{sfn|Silverman|2002|p=216}}  The Mathers disapproved of the increasing independence and liberalism of the Harvard faculty, which they regarded as laxity.  Cotton Mather came to see the Collegiate School, which had moved in 1716 from [[Old Saybrook, Connecticut|Saybrook]] to [[New Haven, Connecticut]], as a better vehicle for preserving the Puritan orthodoxy in New England.  In 1718, Cotton convinced Boston-born British businessman [[Elihu Yale]] to make a charitable gift sufficient to ensure the school's survival.  It was also Mather who suggested that the school change its name to [[Yale University|Yale College]] after it accepted that donation.{{sfn|Silverman|2002|pp=298–299}}

Cotton Mather sought the presidency of Harvard again after Leverett's death in 1724, but the fellows offered the position to the Rev. Joseph Sewall (son of Judge [[Samuel Sewall]], who had repented publicly for his role in the Salem witch trials).{{sfn|Silverman|2002|p=385}}  When Sewall turned it down, Mather once again hoped that he might get the appointment.  Instead, the fellows offered it to one of its own number, the Rev. Benjamin Coleman, an old rival of Mather.  When Coleman refused it, the presidency went finally to the Rev. [[Benjamin Wadsworth (clergyman)|Benjamin Wadsworth]].{{sfn|Silverman|2002|p=391}}