WILLIAM PHIPS Shawn MusialMs. DelGrego

English 3

BORN/DEATH Born: February 2, 1651

Town: Kennebec, Main

Died: February 16, 1693

CHILDHOOD One of twenty six other children

Education was rare in rural Main

Unable to read until he moved to Boston, Massachusetts in order to study

Learned ship-carpentry trade form father

FAMILY Father-

co-owned and operated a trading post plantation involved in the trade of fur and weapons.

Wife- Name: Mary Spencer Hull Married in 1637

CAREER When he moved to Boston,

Massachusetts, he became captain of a supply ship that would travel towards Haiti and recover treasure from sunken ships.

Eventually became governor of Massachusetts

PHIPS'S EXPEDITION Traveled to London to seek funds for his

expedition to explore sunken Spanish ships in the Caribbean for treasure

After receiving the funding he needed, Phips and his crew went on exploring

They discovered the remains of the Spanish ship Conception where he and his men took about 205,000 to 210,000 English pounds

Phips then gave ten percent to the king and queen

THE KNIGHTING OF PHIPS After giving some of the money to the

Crown Phips was called to Windsor Castle

King James II knighted Phips on June 28th, 1687

A great achievement considering Phips did not have a royal background

RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

Befriended Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather

Baptized in 1689 a Cotton Mather’s Church after making a profession of faith

BECOMING A GOVERNOR

Phips petitioned for the Massachusetts Charter with Increase Mather

When the charter was passed, Increase Mather used his influence to nominate Phips to be the first Royal Governor

ROLE AS GOVERNOR Phips returned to Massachusetts on May

14, two months after the accusations in Salem began

He ordered that those accused be put in jail

Created Court of Oyer and Terminer in order to determine the witch cases and placed lieutenant governor William Stroughton in charge of it

Court of Oyer and Terminer

DOWNFALL The court was later deemed illegal to

avoid lawsuits (however it was legal due to it being created by a legitimate Royal Governor)

People were being convicted and executed on little to no evidence what-so-ever

Phips eventually realized the false accusations and became aware of the mistakes his court was making…

CHANGE OF HEART Phips pardoned eight people who were

sentenced to death

Tried to end the court

Couldn’t control the court, therefore more executions occurred

Eventually the court was ended

BIBLIOGRAPHYBaker, Emerson W. and John G. Reid. The New

England Knight, Sir William Phips 1651-1695,1998.

Miller, Perry. "The Judgment of the Witches," in The New England Mind: From Colony to Province, 1953.

Phips, Governor, Sir William. Letters of Governor Phips to the Home Government, 1692-1693, 1693. In George L. Burr, Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648 - 1706, 1914.

Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story, Reading the Witch Trials of 1692,1993.