The Cambridge Agreement
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The Cambridge Agreement was an agreement made on August 29, 1629, between the shareholders of the Massachusetts Bay Company. The Agreement led directly to the foundation of Boston, Massachusetts.
The Cambridge Agreement was a deal over whether the Massachusetts Bay Colony would be under local control, in New England, or under the control of a corporate board in London. Not all the members of the Company were actually interested in emigrating, but were either sympathetic Puritans or investors.
In return for guaranteeing local control over the colony, the non-emigrating shareholders were bought out by the emigrating shareholders. John Winthrop became leader of the Puritan emigration as a result of the Cambridge Agreement negotiations, and it was understood that he would become governor upon arrival.
The Cambridge Agreement guaranteed that Massachusetts would be a self-governing colony, answerable only to the King. The Colony and the Company were now, for all intents and purposes, one and the same. Winthrop's Puritans carried their own charter, as well as the Agreement, on their journey to New England.
The Agreement is named after Winthrop's alma mater, the University of Cambridge.
