Cambridge Platform in 1648, and after the churches were given time to study the document, provide feedback, and finally ratify it, the General Court commended it as an accurate description of Congregational practice. While the platform was legally nonbinding and intended only to be descriptive, it soon became regarded by ministers and lay people alike as the religious constitution of Massachusetts, guaranteeing the rights of church officers and members.

Congregational minister Albert Elijah Dunning