Matthew Wood
is very articulate in expressing his political beliefs, which represent the views of future
American revolutionaries. About the Connecticut Colony Charter, he says,
"Surrender our charter and we lose all...that charter
was given to Connecticut by King Charles twenty-five years ago. It guarantees every right and
privilege we have earned, the very ground we stand on and the laws we have made for ourselves.
King James has no right to go back on his brother's pledge...The men who made this town
understood justice. They knew better than to look for it in the King's favor. The only rights
worth all that toil and sacrifice are the rights of free men, free and equal under God to decide
their own justice (Chapter 7).
Later, when the Charter had
been safely spirited away, he says,
"There are hard
times ahead for Connecticut. But some day, when the hard times have passed, as they must pass,
we will bring our charter out of hiding and begin again, and we will show the world what it
means to be free men" (Chapter 15).
In his
relationship with Kit, Matthew Wood is fair, even if it is not warm, and he defends her fiercely
when he feels she is falsely accused. He firmly declares before Sam
Talcott,
"The girl has been thoughtless and headstrong
at times, but...I swear before all present, on my word as a freeman of the colony, that the girl
is no witch" (Chapter 19).
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