Editing Increase Sumner (section)

{{Short description|American judge (1746–1799)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|image=File:IncreaseSumnerBySharples.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption=Painting by [[James Sharples (portrait painter)|James Sharples]]
|name= Increase Sumner
|order=5th
|office= Governor of Massachusetts
|term_start= June 2, 1797
|term_end= June 7, 1799
|lieutenant= Moses Gill
|predecessor= [[Samuel Adams]]
|successor= [[Moses Gill]] (acting)
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1746|11|27|mf=y}}
|birth_place= [[Roxbury, Boston|Roxbury]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]]
|death_date= {{death date and age|1799|6|7|1746|11|27|mf=y}}
|death_place= Roxbury, [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
|spouse= {{marriage|Elizabeth Hyslop |September 30, 1779}}
|party= [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]
|relatives= [[Sumner family]]
|signature= Increase Sumner Signature.svg
|office1=Associate Justice of the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]]|termstart1=1782|termend1=1797|predecessor1=[[James Sullivan (governor)|James Sullivan]]|successor1=[[Theophilus Bradbury]]|nominator1=[[John Hancock]]|alma_mater=[[Harvard College]]}}

'''Increase Sumner''' (November 27, 1746 – June 7, 1799) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from [[Massachusetts]]. He was the fifth [[governor of Massachusetts]], serving from 1797 to 1799. Trained as a lawyer, he served in the [[Massachusetts Provincial Congress|provisional government of Massachusetts]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]], and was elected to the [[Confederation Congress]] in 1782. Appointed to the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]] the same year, he served there as an associate justice until 1797.

He was elected governor of Massachusetts three times by wide margins, but died shortly after the start of his third term. His descendants include his son [[William H. Sumner]], for whom the [[Sumner Tunnel]] in [[Boston]], Massachusetts, is named, and 20th-century diplomats [[Sumner Welles]] and [[Sumner Gerard]].