Henry Vane is elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

(OS-5/25) The 23-year-old is subsequently called the “Boy Governor.” Prior to the election, Rev. John Wilson delivered the first stump speech in American politics when he “got up on the bough of a tree” on Cambridge Common for Vane’s opponent, John Winthrop, who is elected deputy governor. Although Vane subsequently attempts to resign his post, he is persuaded to finish his one-year term. Vane leaves Boston for England on August 3, 1637, becomes involved in the English Revolution, and is subsequently beheaded.