 John Leverett graduated from Harvard College (B. A., 1680; M. A. 1683),
and worked for 15 years as a fellow and tutor during the presidency of
Increase Mather. With William and Thomas Brattle, he formed Bostons’
new Brattle Street Church in 1699 as a “broad and catholick” alternative
to strict Congregationalism. Because of this, the Mathers had him
removed from his post at Harvard in 1700.
Leverett went on to practice law, enter politics, and was appointed
judge. After the Mathers lost control of Harvard, Leverett was elected as
the first non-clergy president of Harvard in 1707. It was under his
presidency that Harvard began to change signficantly. Cotton Mather, upset
that he had not been named president, helped to fund and found the new
Yale College in Connecticut. |
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