Province of Massachusetts Bay
Encyclopedia
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony
in North America
. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary
, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England
and Scotland
. The charter took effect on May 14, 1692 and included the former Massachusetts Bay Colony
and Plymouth Colony
, as well as the Province of Maine
, Martha's Vineyard
, Nantucket
, and what are now the Canadian
provinces of Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick
.
The name Massachusetts comes from the Massachusett
, an Algonquian
tribe. The name has been translated as "at the great hill", "at the place of large hills", or "at the range of hills", with reference to the Blue Hills
, or in particular, Great Blue Hill
.
began in 1620 with the founding of the Plymouth Colony
. Other attempts at colonization took place throughout the 1620s, but expansion of English settlements only began on a large scale with the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
in 1628 and the arrival of the first large group of Puritan
settlers in 1630. Over the next ten years there was a major migration of Puritans to the area, leading to the founding of a number of new colonies in New England
. By the 1680s the number of colonies had stabilized at five: in addition to Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, Connecticut
, Rhode Island
and New Hampshire
all bordered the area. Massachusetts Bay was the most populous and economically significant, housing a sizable merchant fleet.
The colonies at times struggled against the local Indian population, which had suffered a serious decline in population (most likely at the hands of infectious diseases brought over by European traders and fishermen) prior to the arrival of the first permanent settlers. In the 1630s the Pequot tribe
was virtually destroyed
, and King Philip's War
in the 1670s resulted in the expulsion, pacification, or killing of most of the Indians in southern New England. The latter war was also costly to the colonists of New England, putting a halt to expansion for several years.
Massachusetts and Plymouth were both somewhat politically independent from England in their early days, but this situation changed after the restoration
of Charles II
to the English throne in 1660. Charles sought closer oversight of the colonies, and to introduce and enforce economic control over their activities. The Navigation Acts
passed in the 1660s were widely disliked in Massachusetts, where merchants often found themselves trapped and at odds with the rules. However, many colonial governments, Massachusetts principally among them, refused to enforce the acts themselves, and took matters one step further by obstructing the activities of the Crown agents themselves. The religiously conservative Puritan rulers of Massachusetts also refused to tolerate the Church of England
, and yet at the same time were intolerant of other religious groups, banishing Baptists and executing Quakers who defied their banishment. These issues and others led to the revocation of the first Massachusetts Charter in 1684.
In 1686 Charles II's successor, King James II
, formed the Dominion of New England
, which ultimately joined all of the British territories from Delaware Bay
to Penobscot Bay
into a single political unit. The Dominion's governor, Sir Edmund Andros
, was highly unpopular in the colonies, but was especially hated in Massachusetts, where he angered virtually everyone by enforcing of the Navigation Acts, vacating land titles, appropriating a Puritan meeting house as a site to host services for the Church of England, and his restriction of town meeting
s, among other sundry complaints. When James was deposed in the 1688 Glorious Revolution
, Massachusetts political leaders conspired against Andros, arresting him
and other English authorities in April 1689. This led to the collapse of the Dominion, as the other colonies then quickly reasserted their old forms of government.
The Plymouth colony had never had a royal charter, so its governance had always been on a somewhat precarious footing. Massachusetts, however, was placed into constitutional anarchy by the uprising. Although the colonial government was reestablished, it no longer had a valid charter, as a result of which some opponents of the old Puritan rule refused to pay taxes, and engaged in other forms of protest. Provincial agents traveled to London where Increase Mather
, representing the old colony leaders, petitioned new rulers William and Mary
to restore the old colonial charter. When King William learned that this might result in a return to the predominantly entrenched religious rule, he refused. Instead, the Lords of Trade decided to solve two problems at once by combining the two colonies. Accordingly on October 7, 1691, they issued a charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and appointed Sir William Phips
its governor.
The second major change was that senior officials of the government, including governor, lieutenant governor, and judges, were appointed by the crown instead of being elected. The legislative assembly, or General Court, continued to be elected, however, and was responsible for choosing members of the Governor's Council. The governor had veto power over laws passed by the General Court, as well as over appointments to the council. These rules differed in important ways from the royal charters enjoyed by other provinces. The most important were that the General Court now possessed the powers of appropriation, and that the council was locally chosen and not appointed by either the governor or the Crown. These significantly weakened the governor's power, something that came to be of importance later in provincial history.
The province's territory was also greatly expanded beyond that originally claimed by the predecessor Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. In addition to their territories, which included present-day mainland Massachusetts
, western Maine
, and portions of all of the neighboring modern states, the territory was expanded to include Acadia
or Nova Scotia
(then encompassing modern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
, and eastern Maine), as well as what was then known as Dukes County in the Province of New York
, consisting of the islands of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard
, and the Elizabeth Islands
.
and by King William's War
(1689–1697). In the aftermath of the revolt against Andros, colonial defenses had been withdrawn from the frontiers, which then repeatedly were raided by French and Indian forces from Canada
and Acadia
. War again broke out in 1702 with Queen Anne's War
, which lasted until 1713. Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley
organized the colonial defenses, and there were fewer raids than in the earlier war. Dudley also organized expeditions against Acadia, a haven for French privateer
s, in 1704 and 1707, and requested support from London for more ambitious efforts against New France
. In 1709 Massachusetts raised troops for an expedition against Canada that was called off, and again in 1710, when Port Royal
, the Acadian capital, was finally captured
.
Because of the wars, the colony had issued paper currency, whose value was constantly in decline, leading to financial crises. This led to proposals to create a bank that would issue notes backed by real estate, but this move was opposed by Governor Dudley and his successor, Samuel Shute
. Dudley and Shute, as well as later governors, engaged in fruitless attempts to convince the general court to fix salaries for crown-appointed officials. The issues of currency and salary were both long-lived issues over which governors and colonists fought. The conflict over salary reached a peak of sorts during the short-lived administration of William Burnet
. He held the provincial assembly in session for six months, relocating it twice, in an unsuccessful attempt to force the issue.
In the early 1720s the Abenaki of northern New England, encouraged by French intriguers but also concerned over British encroachment on their lands, resumed raiding of frontier communities. This violence was eventually put down by Acting Governor William Dummer
, leading the conflict to be called Dummer's War
(among many other names). Many Abenakis retreated from northern New England into Canada after the conflict.
In the 1730s Governor Jonathan Belcher
, a native son, disputed the power of the legislature to direct appropriations, vetoing bills that did not give him the freedom to disburse funds as he saw fit. This meant that the provincial treasury was often empty. Belcher was, however, permitted by the Board of Trade to accept annual grants from the legislature in lieu of a fixed salary. Under his administration the currency crisis flared again. This resulted in a revival of the land bank proposal, which Belcher opposed. His political opponents intrigued in London to have him removed, and the bank was established. Its existence was short-lived, for an act of Parliament forcibly dissolved it. This turned a number of important colonists (including the father of American Revolutionary War
political leader Samuel Adams
) against crown and Parliament.
The next twenty years were dominated by war. King George's War
broke out in 1741, and Governor William Shirley
rallied troops from around New England for an assault on the French fortress at Louisbourg. which succeeded in 1745
. However, much to the annoyance of New Englanders, Louisbourg was returned to France at the end of the war in 1748. Governor Shirley was relatively popular, in part because he managed to avoid or finesse the more contentious issues his predecessors had raised. He was again militarily active when the French and Indian War
broke out in 1754. Raised to the highest colonial military command by the death of General Edward Braddock
in 1755, he was unable to manage the large-scale logistics the war demanded, and was recalled in 1757. His successor, Thomas Pownall
, oversaw the colonial contribution to the remainder of the war, which ended in North America in 1760.
The 1760s and early 1770s were marked by a rising tide of colonial frustration with London's colonial policies, and with the governors sent to implement and enforce them. Both Francis Bernard and Thomas Hutchinson, the last two non-military governors, were widely disliked over issues large and small, notably the Parliament's attempts to impose taxes on the colonies without representation. Hutchinson, a Massachusetts native who served for many years as lieutenant governor, authorized the quartering of British Army troops in Boston, which eventually precipitated the Boston Massacre
on March 5, 1770. By this time, agitators like Samuel Adams, Paul Revere
, and John Hancock
were active in opposition to crown policies. After the Boston Tea Party
in December 1773, Hutchinson was replaced in May 1774 by General Thomas Gage
. Gage was at first well-received, but the reception rapidly became worse as he began to implement the so-called Intolerable Acts
, including the Massachusetts Government Act
, which dissolved the legislature, and the Boston Port Act
, which closed the port of Boston until reparations were paid for the dumped tea. The port closure did great damage to the provincial economy, and led to a wave of sympathetic assistance from other colonies.
The royal government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay existed de facto until early October 1774, when members of the General Court of Massachusetts met in contravention of the Massachusetts Government Act and established the Massachusetts Provincial Congress
. Although Governor Gage continued an essentially military rule in Boston, the provincial congress had effective rule in the rest of the province. Hostilities starting the American Revolutionary War
broke out in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord
, which continued with the Siege of Boston
. The British evacuated Boston
on March 17, 1776, ending the siege and bringing the city under rebel control. On May 1, 1776 the provincial congress adopted a resolution declaring the province to be independent of the crown; this was followed up by the United States Declaration of Independence
on July 4, 1776 declaring the independence of all of the Thirteen Colonies
.
The Constitution
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
was agreed upon in Cambridge in October 1779 and adopted by the delegates nine months later in June 1780, to go into effect "the last Wednesday of October next". In elections held in October 1780, John Hancock was elected the first Governor of Massachusetts
along with representatives to the commonwealth's first General Court
.
, uncle to John Hancock, and James Otis, Sr.
, believed strongly in the growth of the colony and a vigorous defense against French and Indian incursions. This faction became a vital force in the Patriot
movements preceding the revolution. Nonexpansionists, exemplified by Hutchinson and the Oliver family of Boston, were more circumspect, preferring to rely on a strong relationship with the mother country. This faction would become Loyalist
in the revolutionary era. The third force in Massachusetts politics was a populist faction made possible by the structure of the provincial legislature, in which rural and lower class communities held a larger number of votes than in other provinces. Its early leaders included the Cookes (Elisha senior
and junior
) of Maine, while later leaders included revolutionary firebrand Samuel Adams. Although religion did not play a major role in these divisions, nonexpansionists tended to be Anglican, while expansionists were mainly middle-of-the road Congregationalist. Populists generally held either conservative Puritan views or the revivalist views of the First Great Awakening
. Throughout the provincial history, these factions made and broke alliances as conditions and circumstances dictated.
The populist faction had concerns that sometimes prompted it to support one of the other parties. Its rural character meant that when there were troubles on the frontier, they sided with the expansionists. They also tended to side with the expansionists on the recurring problems with the local money, whose inflation tended to favor their ability to repay debts in depreciated currency. These ties became stronger in the 1760s as the conflict with Parliament grew.
The nonexpansionists were composed principally of a wealthy merchant class in Boston. They had allies in the wealthy farming communities in the more developed eastern portions of the province, and in the province's major ports. This alliance often rivalled the populist party in power in the provincial legislature. It favored stronger regulation from the mother country, and opposed the inflationist issuance of colonial currency.
Expansionists mainly came from two disparate groups. The first was a portion of the eastern merchant class, represented by the Hancocks and Otises, who harbored views of the growth of the colony and held relatively liberal religious views. They were joined by wealthy landowners in the Connecticut River valley, whose needs for defense and growth were directly tied to property development. Although these two groups agreed on defense and an expansionist vision, they disagreed on the currency issue, with the westerners siding with the nonexpansionists in their desire for a standards-based currency.
and the Berkshires
on land that had been under Indian control prior to King Philip's War.
The character of local politics changed as the province prospered and grew. Unity of community during the earlier colonial period gave way to subdivision of larger towns. Dedham
, for example, was split into six towns, and Newburyport
was separated from Newbury
in 1764.
Town meetings also became more important in local political life. As towns grew, the townspeople became more assertive in managing their affairs, and the town selectmen, who had previously wielded significant power, lost some of their influence to the town meetings and to the appointment of paid town employees, such as tax assessors, constable
s, and treasurer
s.
by the French, was formally returned to France by the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick
. Nova Scotia became a separate province in 1710, following the British conquest
of Acadia in Queen Anne's War
. Maine was not separated until after American independence, when it attained statehood in 1820.
The borders of the province with the neighboring provinces underwent some adjustment. Its principal predecessor colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, had established boundaries with New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, but these underwent changes during the provincial period. The boundary with New Hampshire was of some controversy, since the original boundary definition in colonial charters (three miles north of the Merrimack River
) had been made on the assumption that the river flowed predominantly west. This issue was resolved by King George II
in 1741, when he ruled that the border between the two provinces follows what is now the border between the two states.
Surveys in the 1690s suggested that the original boundary line with Connecticut and Rhode Island had been incorrectly surveyed. In the early 1700s joint surveys determined that the line was south of where it should be. In 1713 Massachusetts set aside a plot of land (called the "Equivalent lands
") to compensate Connecticut for this error. These lands were auctioned off, and the proceeds were used by Connecticut to fund Yale College
. The boundary with Rhode Island was also found to require adjustment, and in 1746 territories on the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay
(present-day Barrington
, Bristol
, Tiverton and Little Compton
) were ceded to Rhode Island. The borders between Massachusetts and its southern neighbors were not fixed into their modern form until the 19th century, requiring significant legal action in the case of the Rhode Island borders. The western border with New York was agreed in 1773, but not surveyed until 1788.
Crown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
and Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
. The charter took effect on May 14, 1692 and included the former Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
and Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
, as well as the Province of Maine
Province of Maine
The Province of Maine refers to several English colonies of that name that existed in the 17th century along the northeast coast of North America, at times roughly encompassing portions of the present-day U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec...
, Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
, Nantucket
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...
, and what are now the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
provinces of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
.
The name Massachusetts comes from the Massachusett
Massachusett
The Massachusett are a tribe of Native Americans who lived in areas surrounding Massachusetts Bay in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in particular present-day Greater Boston; they spoke the Massachusett language...
, an Algonquian
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
tribe. The name has been translated as "at the great hill", "at the place of large hills", or "at the range of hills", with reference to the Blue Hills
Blue Hills Reservation
Blue Hills Reservation is a state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, it extends into Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedham south of Boston.-Description:...
, or in particular, Great Blue Hill
Great Blue Hill
Great Blue Hill is a hill of 635 feet located within the Blue Hills Reservation in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, 10 miles southwest of Boston. It is the highest point in Norfolk County...
.
Background
Colonial settlement of the shores of Massachusetts BayMassachusetts Bay
The Massachusetts Bay, also called Mass Bay, is one of the largest bays of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the distinctive shape of the coastline of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Its waters extend 65 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts Bay includes the Boston Harbor, Dorchester Bay,...
began in 1620 with the founding of the Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
. Other attempts at colonization took place throughout the 1620s, but expansion of English settlements only began on a large scale with the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
in 1628 and the arrival of the first large group of Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
settlers in 1630. Over the next ten years there was a major migration of Puritans to the area, leading to the founding of a number of new colonies in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. By the 1680s the number of colonies had stabilized at five: in addition to Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, Connecticut
Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English...
, Rhode Island
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original English Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America that, after the American Revolution, became the modern U.S...
and New Hampshire
Province of New Hampshire
The Province of New Hampshire is a name first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. It was formally organized as an English royal colony on October 7, 1691, during the period of English colonization...
all bordered the area. Massachusetts Bay was the most populous and economically significant, housing a sizable merchant fleet.
The colonies at times struggled against the local Indian population, which had suffered a serious decline in population (most likely at the hands of infectious diseases brought over by European traders and fishermen) prior to the arrival of the first permanent settlers. In the 1630s the Pequot tribe
Pequot
Pequot people are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England...
was virtually destroyed
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
, and King Philip's War
King Philip's War
King Philip's War, sometimes called Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the...
in the 1670s resulted in the expulsion, pacification, or killing of most of the Indians in southern New England. The latter war was also costly to the colonists of New England, putting a halt to expansion for several years.
Massachusetts and Plymouth were both somewhat politically independent from England in their early days, but this situation changed after the restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
to the English throne in 1660. Charles sought closer oversight of the colonies, and to introduce and enforce economic control over their activities. The Navigation Acts
Navigation Acts
The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the...
passed in the 1660s were widely disliked in Massachusetts, where merchants often found themselves trapped and at odds with the rules. However, many colonial governments, Massachusetts principally among them, refused to enforce the acts themselves, and took matters one step further by obstructing the activities of the Crown agents themselves. The religiously conservative Puritan rulers of Massachusetts also refused to tolerate the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and yet at the same time were intolerant of other religious groups, banishing Baptists and executing Quakers who defied their banishment. These issues and others led to the revocation of the first Massachusetts Charter in 1684.
In 1686 Charles II's successor, King James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
, formed the Dominion of New England
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America was an administrative union of English colonies in the New England region of North America. The dominion was ultimately a failure because the area it encompassed was too large for a single governor to manage...
, which ultimately joined all of the British territories from Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
to Penobscot Bay
Penobscot Bay
Penobscot Bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River. There are many islands in this bay, and on them, some of the country's most well-known summer colonies. The bay served as portal for the one time "lumber capital of the world," namely; the city of Bangor...
into a single political unit. The Dominion's governor, Sir Edmund Andros
Edmund Andros
Sir Edmund Andros was an English colonial administrator in North America. Andros was known most notably for his governorship of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. He also governed at various times the provinces of New York, East and West Jersey, Virginia, and...
, was highly unpopular in the colonies, but was especially hated in Massachusetts, where he angered virtually everyone by enforcing of the Navigation Acts, vacating land titles, appropriating a Puritan meeting house as a site to host services for the Church of England, and his restriction of town meeting
Town meeting
A town meeting is a form of direct democratic rule, used primarily in portions of the United States since the 17th century, in which most or all the members of a community come together to legislate policy and budgets for local government....
s, among other sundry complaints. When James was deposed in the 1688 Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
, Massachusetts political leaders conspired against Andros, arresting him
1689 Boston revolt
The 1689 Boston revolt was a popular uprising on April 18, 1689, against the rule of Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of the Dominion of New England. A well-organized "mob" of provincial militia and citizens formed in the city and arrested dominion officials...
and other English authorities in April 1689. This led to the collapse of the Dominion, as the other colonies then quickly reasserted their old forms of government.
The Plymouth colony had never had a royal charter, so its governance had always been on a somewhat precarious footing. Massachusetts, however, was placed into constitutional anarchy by the uprising. Although the colonial government was reestablished, it no longer had a valid charter, as a result of which some opponents of the old Puritan rule refused to pay taxes, and engaged in other forms of protest. Provincial agents traveled to London where Increase Mather
Increase Mather
Increase Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . 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...
, representing the old colony leaders, petitioned new rulers William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
to restore the old colonial charter. When King William learned that this might result in a return to the predominantly entrenched religious rule, he refused. Instead, the Lords of Trade decided to solve two problems at once by combining the two colonies. Accordingly on October 7, 1691, they issued a charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and appointed Sir William Phips
William Phips
Sir William Phips was a shipwright, ship's captain, treasure hunter, military leader, and the first royally-appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay....
its governor.
Provincial charter
The new charter differed from the old one in several important ways: one of the principal changes, inaugurated over Mather's objection, was to change the test requirements for attaining voting eligibility from religious to financial. Although the effect of this change has been subject to debate among historians, there is significant consensus that it greatly enlarged the number of men eligible to vote. The new rules required prospective voters to own £40 worth of property, or real estate that yielded at least £2 per year in rent, and has been estimated to have thus included three quarters of the then adult male population as eligible.The second major change was that senior officials of the government, including governor, lieutenant governor, and judges, were appointed by the crown instead of being elected. The legislative assembly, or General Court, continued to be elected, however, and was responsible for choosing members of the Governor's Council. The governor had veto power over laws passed by the General Court, as well as over appointments to the council. These rules differed in important ways from the royal charters enjoyed by other provinces. The most important were that the General Court now possessed the powers of appropriation, and that the council was locally chosen and not appointed by either the governor or the Crown. These significantly weakened the governor's power, something that came to be of importance later in provincial history.
The province's territory was also greatly expanded beyond that originally claimed by the predecessor Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. In addition to their territories, which included present-day mainland Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, western Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, and portions of all of the neighboring modern states, the territory was expanded to include Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
or Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
(then encompassing modern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, and eastern Maine), as well as what was then known as Dukes County in the Province of New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
, consisting of the islands of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
, and the Elizabeth Islands
Elizabeth Islands
The Elizabeth Islands are a chain of small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the United States. They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound, and constitute the town of...
.
History
The early years of the province were dominated by the Salem witch trialsSalem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
and by King William's War
King William's War
The first of the French and Indian Wars, King William's War was the name used in the English colonies in America to refer to the North American theater of the Nine Years' War...
(1689–1697). In the aftermath of the revolt against Andros, colonial defenses had been withdrawn from the frontiers, which then repeatedly were raided by French and Indian forces from Canada
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...
and Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
. War again broke out in 1702 with Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
, which lasted until 1713. Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts and son of one of its founders, he had a leading role in the administration of the unpopular Dominion of New England , and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, where he oversaw the trial...
organized the colonial defenses, and there were fewer raids than in the earlier war. Dudley also organized expeditions against Acadia, a haven for French privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s, in 1704 and 1707, and requested support from London for more ambitious efforts against New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
. In 1709 Massachusetts raised troops for an expedition against Canada that was called off, and again in 1710, when Port Royal
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...
, the Acadian capital, was finally captured
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
.
Because of the wars, the colony had issued paper currency, whose value was constantly in decline, leading to financial crises. This led to proposals to create a bank that would issue notes backed by real estate, but this move was opposed by Governor Dudley and his successor, Samuel Shute
Samuel Shute
Samuel Shute was a military officer and royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. After serving in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession, he was appointed by King George I as governor of Massachusetts in 1716...
. Dudley and Shute, as well as later governors, engaged in fruitless attempts to convince the general court to fix salaries for crown-appointed officials. The issues of currency and salary were both long-lived issues over which governors and colonists fought. The conflict over salary reached a peak of sorts during the short-lived administration of William Burnet
William Burnet (administrator)
William Burnet was a British civil servant and colonial administrator who served as governor of New York and New Jersey and Massachusetts .-Early life:...
. He held the provincial assembly in session for six months, relocating it twice, in an unsuccessful attempt to force the issue.
In the early 1720s the Abenaki of northern New England, encouraged by French intriguers but also concerned over British encroachment on their lands, resumed raiding of frontier communities. This violence was eventually put down by Acting Governor William Dummer
William Dummer
William Dummer was Acting Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1723 to 1728.-Family:Dummer was born in Boston and died in Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of Jeremiah Dummer, the first American born silversmith, and Anna Atwater...
, leading the conflict to be called Dummer's War
Dummer's War
Dummer's War , also known as Lovewell's War, Father Rale's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the 4th Indian War or the Wabanaki-New England War of 1722–1725, was a series of battles between British settlers of the three northernmost British colonies of North America of the time and the...
(among many other names). Many Abenakis retreated from northern New England into Canada after the conflict.
In the 1730s Governor Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher was colonial governor of the British provinces of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.-Early life:Jonathan Belcher was born in Cambridge, Province of Massachusetts Bay, in 1682...
, a native son, disputed the power of the legislature to direct appropriations, vetoing bills that did not give him the freedom to disburse funds as he saw fit. This meant that the provincial treasury was often empty. Belcher was, however, permitted by the Board of Trade to accept annual grants from the legislature in lieu of a fixed salary. Under his administration the currency crisis flared again. This resulted in a revival of the land bank proposal, which Belcher opposed. His political opponents intrigued in London to have him removed, and the bank was established. Its existence was short-lived, for an act of Parliament forcibly dissolved it. This turned a number of important colonists (including the father of American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
political leader Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American...
) against crown and Parliament.
The next twenty years were dominated by war. King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
broke out in 1741, and Governor William Shirley
William Shirley
William Shirley was a British colonial administrator who served twice as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and as Governor of the Bahamas in the 1760s...
rallied troops from around New England for an assault on the French fortress at Louisbourg. which succeeded in 1745
Siege of Louisbourg (1745)
The Siege of Louisbourg took place in 1745 when a New England colonial force aided by a British fleet captured Louisbourg, the capital of the French province of Île-Royale during the War of the Austrian Succession, known as King George's War in the British colonies.Although the Fortress of...
. However, much to the annoyance of New Englanders, Louisbourg was returned to France at the end of the war in 1748. Governor Shirley was relatively popular, in part because he managed to avoid or finesse the more contentious issues his predecessors had raised. He was again militarily active when the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
broke out in 1754. Raised to the highest colonial military command by the death of General Edward Braddock
Edward Braddock
General Edward Braddock was a British soldier and commander-in-chief for the 13 colonies during the actions at the start of the French and Indian War...
in 1755, he was unable to manage the large-scale logistics the war demanded, and was recalled in 1757. His successor, Thomas Pownall
Thomas Pownall
Thomas Pownall was a British politician and colonial official. He was governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1758 to 1760, and afterward served in the British Parliament. He traveled widely in the North American colonies prior to the American Revolutionary War, and opposed...
, oversaw the colonial contribution to the remainder of the war, which ended in North America in 1760.
The 1760s and early 1770s were marked by a rising tide of colonial frustration with London's colonial policies, and with the governors sent to implement and enforce them. Both Francis Bernard and Thomas Hutchinson, the last two non-military governors, were widely disliked over issues large and small, notably the Parliament's attempts to impose taxes on the colonies without representation. Hutchinson, a Massachusetts native who served for many years as lieutenant governor, authorized the quartering of British Army troops in Boston, which eventually precipitated the Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre, called the Boston Riot by the British, was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed five civilian men. British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support...
on March 5, 1770. By this time, agitators like Samuel Adams, Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
, and John Hancock
John Hancock
John Hancock was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...
were active in opposition to crown policies. After the Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
in December 1773, Hutchinson was replaced in May 1774 by General Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage was a British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as military commander in the early days of the American War of Independence....
. Gage was at first well-received, but the reception rapidly became worse as he began to implement the so-called Intolerable Acts
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts or the Coercive Acts are names used to describe a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North America...
, including the Massachusetts Government Act
Massachusetts Government Act
The Massachusetts Government Act was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain and became a law on May 20, 1774. The act is one of the Intolerable Acts , designed to suppress dissent and restore order in the Province of Massachusetts Bay...
, which dissolved the legislature, and the Boston Port Act
Boston Port Act
The Boston Port Act is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which became law on March 30, 1774, and is one of the measures that were designed to secure Great Britain's jurisdictions over her American dominions.A response to the Boston Tea Party, it outlawed the use...
, which closed the port of Boston until reparations were paid for the dumped tea. The port closure did great damage to the provincial economy, and led to a wave of sympathetic assistance from other colonies.
The royal government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay existed de facto until early October 1774, when members of the General Court of Massachusetts met in contravention of the Massachusetts Government Act and established the Massachusetts Provincial Congress
Massachusetts Provincial Congress
The Massachusetts Provincial Congress was a provisional government created in the Province of Massachusetts Bay early in the American Revolution....
. Although Governor Gage continued an essentially military rule in Boston, the provincial congress had effective rule in the rest of the province. Hostilities starting the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
broke out in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy , and Cambridge, near Boston...
, which continued with the Siege of Boston
Siege of Boston
The Siege of Boston was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War, in which New England militiamen—who later became part of the Continental Army—surrounded the town of Boston, Massachusetts, to prevent movement by the British Army garrisoned within...
. The British evacuated Boston
Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)
March 17 is Evacuation Day, a holiday observed in Suffolk County and also by the public schools in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. The holiday commemorates the evacuation of British forces from the city of Boston following the Siege of Boston, early in the American Revolutionary War...
on March 17, 1776, ending the siege and bringing the city under rebel control. On May 1, 1776 the provincial congress adopted a resolution declaring the province to be independent of the crown; this was followed up by the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
on July 4, 1776 declaring the independence of all of the Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
.
The Constitution
Massachusetts Constitution
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the fundamental governing document of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 individual state governments that make up the United States of America. It was drafted by John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Bowdoin during the...
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
was agreed upon in Cambridge in October 1779 and adopted by the delegates nine months later in June 1780, to go into effect "the last Wednesday of October next". In elections held in October 1780, John Hancock was elected the first Governor of Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
along with representatives to the commonwealth's first General Court
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
.
Provincial politics
According to Thomas Hutchinson, who wrote the first major history of colonial Massachusetts, the politics of the province was dominated by three major factions. This is in distinction to most of the other colonies, where there were two factions. Expansionists, exemplified in Massachusetts by people like Thomas HancockThomas Hancock (merchant)
Thomas Hancock was a merchant in colonial Boston. He got his start in the book trade, and expanded into importing and exporting throughout the British Empire. He was also a smuggler, evading the British Navigation Acts by trading with Holland, which was forbidden...
, uncle to John Hancock, and James Otis, Sr.
James Otis, Sr.
James Otis, Sr. was a prominent lawyer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. His sons James Otis, Jr. and Samuel Allyne Otis also rose to prominence, as did his daughter Mercy Otis Warren...
, believed strongly in the growth of the colony and a vigorous defense against French and Indian incursions. This faction became a vital force in the Patriot
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
movements preceding the revolution. Nonexpansionists, exemplified by Hutchinson and the Oliver family of Boston, were more circumspect, preferring to rely on a strong relationship with the mother country. This faction would become Loyalist
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
in the revolutionary era. The third force in Massachusetts politics was a populist faction made possible by the structure of the provincial legislature, in which rural and lower class communities held a larger number of votes than in other provinces. Its early leaders included the Cookes (Elisha senior
Elisha Cooke, Sr.
Elisha Cooke was a wealthy Massachusetts physician, politician, and businessman who was elected Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1683. He was the leader of the "popular party", a faction in the Massachusetts House that resisted encroachment by royal officials on colonial...
and junior
Elisha Cooke, Jr.
Elisha Cooke, Jr. was a physician and politician from the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was the son of Elisha Cooke, Sr...
) of Maine, while later leaders included revolutionary firebrand Samuel Adams. Although religion did not play a major role in these divisions, nonexpansionists tended to be Anglican, while expansionists were mainly middle-of-the road Congregationalist. Populists generally held either conservative Puritan views or the revivalist views of the First Great Awakening
First Great Awakening
The First Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal...
. Throughout the provincial history, these factions made and broke alliances as conditions and circumstances dictated.
The populist faction had concerns that sometimes prompted it to support one of the other parties. Its rural character meant that when there were troubles on the frontier, they sided with the expansionists. They also tended to side with the expansionists on the recurring problems with the local money, whose inflation tended to favor their ability to repay debts in depreciated currency. These ties became stronger in the 1760s as the conflict with Parliament grew.
The nonexpansionists were composed principally of a wealthy merchant class in Boston. They had allies in the wealthy farming communities in the more developed eastern portions of the province, and in the province's major ports. This alliance often rivalled the populist party in power in the provincial legislature. It favored stronger regulation from the mother country, and opposed the inflationist issuance of colonial currency.
Expansionists mainly came from two disparate groups. The first was a portion of the eastern merchant class, represented by the Hancocks and Otises, who harbored views of the growth of the colony and held relatively liberal religious views. They were joined by wealthy landowners in the Connecticut River valley, whose needs for defense and growth were directly tied to property development. Although these two groups agreed on defense and an expansionist vision, they disagreed on the currency issue, with the westerners siding with the nonexpansionists in their desire for a standards-based currency.
Local politics
The province significantly expanded its geographic reach, principally in the 18th century. In 1695 there were 83 towns, which grew to 186 in 1765. Most of the towns in 1695 were within one days' travel of Boston, but this changed as townships sprang up in Worcester CountyWorcester County, Massachusetts
-Demographics:In 1990 Worcester County had a population of 709,705.As of the census of 2000, there were 750,963 people, 283,927 households, and 192,502 families residing in the county. The population density was 496 people per square mile . There were 298,159 housing units at an average density...
and the Berkshires
The Berkshires
The Berkshires , is a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.Also referred to as the Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Mountains, and Berkshire Plateau, the region enjoys a vibrant tourism industry based on music, arts, and recreation.-Definition:The term...
on land that had been under Indian control prior to King Philip's War.
The character of local politics changed as the province prospered and grew. Unity of community during the earlier colonial period gave way to subdivision of larger towns. Dedham
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
, for example, was split into six towns, and Newburyport
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...
was separated from Newbury
Newbury, Massachusetts
Newbury is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,666 at the 2010 census. Newbury includes the villages of Old Town , Plum Island and Byfield, home of The Governor's Academy , a private preparatory school.- History :Newbury Plantation was settled and incorporated...
in 1764.
Town meetings also became more important in local political life. As towns grew, the townspeople became more assertive in managing their affairs, and the town selectmen, who had previously wielded significant power, lost some of their influence to the town meetings and to the appointment of paid town employees, such as tax assessors, constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
s, and treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
s.
Geography
The boundaries of the province changed in both major and minor ways during its existence. Nova Scotia, then including New Brunswick, was occupied by English forces at the time of the charter's issuance, but was separated in 1697 when the territory, called AcadiaAcadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
by the French, was formally returned to France by the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick
Treaty of Ryswick
The Treaty of Ryswick or Ryswyck was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the Nine Years' War, which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces.Negotiations started in May...
. Nova Scotia became a separate province in 1710, following the British conquest
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
of Acadia in Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
. Maine was not separated until after American independence, when it attained statehood in 1820.
The borders of the province with the neighboring provinces underwent some adjustment. Its principal predecessor colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, had established boundaries with New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, but these underwent changes during the provincial period. The boundary with New Hampshire was of some controversy, since the original boundary definition in colonial charters (three miles north of the Merrimack River
Merrimack River
The Merrimack River is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport...
) had been made on the assumption that the river flowed predominantly west. This issue was resolved by King George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
in 1741, when he ruled that the border between the two provinces follows what is now the border between the two states.
Surveys in the 1690s suggested that the original boundary line with Connecticut and Rhode Island had been incorrectly surveyed. In the early 1700s joint surveys determined that the line was south of where it should be. In 1713 Massachusetts set aside a plot of land (called the "Equivalent lands
Equivalent lands
The Equivalent lands were several large tracts of land that the Province of Massachusetts Bay made available to settlers from the Connecticut Colony after April, 1716. This was done as compensation for an "equivalent" area of Connecticut-claimed territory which had been inadvertently settled by...
") to compensate Connecticut for this error. These lands were auctioned off, and the proceeds were used by Connecticut to fund Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
. The boundary with Rhode Island was also found to require adjustment, and in 1746 territories on the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 , the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago...
(present-day Barrington
Barrington, Rhode Island
Barrington is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,310 at the 2010 census.In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Barrington sixth on its list of the 100 best places to live in the United States.-History:...
, Bristol
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....
, Tiverton and Little Compton
Little Compton, Rhode Island
Little Compton is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. Its population was 3,492 at the time of the 2010 census. Little Compton is located in southeastern Rhode Island, between the Sakonnet River and the Massachusetts state border...
) were ceded to Rhode Island. The borders between Massachusetts and its southern neighbors were not fixed into their modern form until the 19th century, requiring significant legal action in the case of the Rhode Island borders. The western border with New York was agreed in 1773, but not surveyed until 1788.
See also
- American RevolutionAmerican RevolutionThe American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
- History of MassachusettsHistory of MassachusettsMassachusetts was first colonized by principally English Europeans in the early 17th century, and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Prior to English colonization of the area, it was inhabited by a variety of mainly Algonquian-speaking indigenous tribes...
- Historical outline of Massachusetts
- List of colonial governors of Massachusetts