Constellation Similarity Assertions

Harvard College was founded by a vote of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts on October 28, 1636 that allocated “400£ towards a schoale or colledge.” Subsequent legislative acts established the Board of Overseers, but it was the Charter of 1650 that created the Harvard Corporation as the College's primary governing board and defined its composition and authority. The College Charter became a contentious target for College officials, the Massachusetts Governor and General Court, and the British government grappling with conflicting conceptions of both Harvard and the colony's autonomy, and it was revised on multiple occasions into the 18th century.

More than a year after the founding of the College, on November 20, 1637, the General Court established the College's first governing board: a Board of Overseers comprised of six magistrates and six ministers, “to be always one, to take order for a Colledge at Newetowne.” What followed was an inchoate period for the College in which the first school master, Nathaniel Eaton, was dismissed for negligent and abusive behavior, and the College closed its doors for the 1638-1639 academic year. The College reopened in August 1640 with the newly appointed President Henry Dunster leading the school. On September 27, 1642, four days after the College celebrated its first Commencement, the General Court passed an act granting that the Board of Overseers “for the time being, shall, from time to time, have full power and authority” to manage the College.

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