Question: Cotton Mather was politically influential in what oldest defined region in the US?
Context: Increase Mather (June 21, 1639 O.S. – August 23, 1723 O.S.) was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts).  He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials.  He was the son of Richard Mather, and the father of Cotton Mather, both influential Puritan ministers. Kenneth Eugene Silverman (February 5, 1936 – July 7, 2017) was an American biographer and educator.  He won a Pulitzer Prize and a Bancroft Prize for his 1984 biography of Cotton Mather, "The Life and Times of Cotton Mather".  Silverman, who specialized In Colonial American literature, was a professor of English at New York University until his retirement in 2001. The history of New England is the history of the New England region of North America in the current-day United States.  New England is the oldest clearly defined region of the United States, and it predates the history of the United States by over 150 years.  While New England was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples, English Pilgrims and especially Puritans, fleeing religious persecution in England, arrived in the 1620-1660 era.  They dominated the region; their religion was later called Congregationalism.  They and their descendants are called Yankees. Farming, fishing and lumbering prospered, as did whaling, sea trading, and merchandising. The Wonders of the Invisible World was a book written by Cotton Mather and published in 1693.  It was subtitled, "Observations As well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils".  The book defended Mather's role in the witchhunt conducted in Salem, Massachusetts.  It espoused the belief that witchcraft was an evil magical power.  Mather saw witches as tools of the devil in Satan's battle to "overturn this poor plantation, the Puritan colony", and prosecution of witches as a way to secure God's blessings for the colony. Cotton Mather, FRS (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728; A.B. 1678, Harvard College; A.M. 1681, honorary doctorate 1710, University of Glasgow) was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer.  He left a scientific legacy due to his hybridization experiments and his promotion of inoculation for disease prevention, though he is most frequently remembered today for his vigorous support for the Salem witch trials.  He was subsequently denied the Presidency of Harvard College which his father, Increase Mather, had held. Cotton Mather are a band that was founded by Robert Harrison of Austin, Texas in 1990.  What started as an experimental collaboration with cellist Nat Shelton, had by 1993 evolved into a guitar driven pop quartet.  They have drawn comparisons to the Beatles, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Squeeze, and Guided by Voices.  In his 2007 book, "Shake Some Action", John Borack rated the "Kon Tiki" album at number 26 of his Top 200 Power Pop Albums of all time, comparing the album to "Revolver"-era Beatles, Big Star, and The Apples in Stereo. " NME" suggested Cotton Mather might be "the most exciting guitar pop band since Supergrass." Richard Mather (1596 – 22 April 1669) was a Puritan minister in colonial Boston, Massachusetts.  He was father to Increase Mather and grandfather to Cotton Mather, both celebrated Boston divines. In a letter dated September 2, 1692, Cotton Mather wrote to judge William Stoughton.  Among the notable things about this letter is the provenance: it seems to be the last important correspondence from Cotton Mather to surface in modern times, with the holograph manuscript not arriving in the archives for scholars to view, and authenticate, until sometime between 1978 and 1985. John Norman Mather (June 9, 1942 – January 28, 2017) was a mathematician at Princeton University known for his work on singularity theory and Hamiltonian dynamics.  He was descended from Atherton Mather (1663-1734), a cousin of Cotton Mather. John Williams (10 December 1664 – 12 June 1729) was a New England Puritan minister who became famous for "The Redeemed Captive", his account of his captivity by the Mohawk after the Deerfield Massacre during Queen Anne's War.  He was an uncle of the notable pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards.  <br> His first wife Eunice Mather was a niece of Rev Increase Mather and a cousin of Rev. Cotton Mather and was related to Rev. John Cotton.
Answer: New England