II.

THE CHARTER OF THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, UNDER THE SEAL OF THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, AND BEARING DATE MAY 31, A.D. 1650.

WHEREAS, through the good hand of God, many well-devoted persons have been, and daily are, moved and stirred up to give and bestow sundry gifts, legacies, lands, and revenues, for the advancement of all good literature, arts, and sciences, in HARVARD COLLEGE, in Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex, and to the maintenance of the President and Fellows, and for all accommodations of buildings, and all other necessary provisions that may conduce to the education of the English and Indian youth of this country in knowledge and godliness,

It is therefore ordered and enacted by this Court and the authority thereof, that for the furthering of so good a work, and for the pur

poses aforesaid, from henceforth that the said College in Cambridge, in Middlesex, in New England, shall be a Corporation, consisting of seven persons, to wit, a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer or Bursar; and that HENRY DUNSTER shall be the first President, SAMUEL MATHER, SAMUEL DANFORTH, Masters of Art, JONATHAN MITCHELL, COMFORT STARR, and SAMUEL EATON, Bachelors of Art, shall be the five Fellows, and THOMAS DANFORTH to be present Treasurer, all of them being inhabitants in the Bay, and shall be the first seven persons of which the said Corporation shall consist; and that the said seven persons, or the greater number of them, procuring the presence of the Overseers of the College, and by their counsel and consent, shall have power, and are hereby authorized, at any time or times, to elect a new President, Fellows, or Treasurer, so oft, and from time to time, as any of the said person or persons shall die or be removed; which said

President and Fellows for the time being shall for ever hereafter, in name and fact, be one body politic and corporate in law, to all intents and purposes, and shall have perpetual succession, and shall be called by the name of President and Fellows of Harvard College, and shall from time to time be eligible as aforesaid; and, by that name, they and their successors shall and may purchase and acquire to themselves, or take and receive upon free gift and donation, any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, within this jurisdiction of the Massachusetts, not exceeding the value of five hundred pounds per annum, and any goods and sums of money whatsoever to the use and behoof of the said President, Fellows, and scholars of the said College; and also may sue and plead, or be sued and impleaded, by the name aforesaid, in all courts and places of judicature within the jurisdiction aforesaid.

And that the said President, with any

three of the Fellows, shall have power, and are hereby authorized, when they shall think fit, to make and appoint a common seal for the use of the said Corporation. And the President and Fellows, or the major part of them, from time to time, may meet and choose such officers and servants for the College, and make such allowance to them, and them also to remove, and, after death or removal, to choose such others, and to make from time to time such orders and by-laws, for the better ordering and carrying-on the work of the College, as they shall think fit; provided the said orders be allowed by the Overseers. And also that the President and Fellows, or major part of them, with the Treasurer, shall have power to make conclusive bargains for lands and tenements, to be purchased by the said Corporation for valuable considerations.

And, for the better ordering of the government of the said College and Corporation,Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that

the President and three more of the Fellows shall and may from time to time, upon due warning or notice given by the President to the rest, hold a meeting for the debating and concluding of affairs concerning the profits and revenues of any lands, and disposing of their goods (provided that all the said disposings be according to the will of the donors), and for direction in all emergent occasions, execution of all orders and by-laws, and for the procuring of a general meeting of all the Overseers and Society in great and difficult cases, and in cases of non-agreement; in all which cases aforesaid, the conclusion shall be made by the major part, the said President having a casting voice, the Overseers consenting thereunto. And that all the aforesaid transactions shall tend to and for the use and behoof of the President, Fellows, scholars, and officers of the said College, and for all accommodations of buildings, books, and all other necessary provisions and furnitures as