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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