Historical Sketch of Massachusetts
"...devotion to and distinction in history [is] the mark of a special philosophical attitude, one that reflects the passing scene against the background of the past, connects each generation with something bigger than itself, links past, present and future in a meaningful continuum, and by recalling the indebtedness of the present to the past, dramatizes the responsibility of the present to the future: those who are history- conscious are generally posterity-conscious."
- Henry Steele Commager, Massachusetts historian
Earliest Settlers
Archaeological excavations in Massachusetts reveal that the earliest human beings arrived here more than 10,000 years ago. Archaeologists call these earliest settlers "Paleo-Indians." They are the ancestors of today's Indigenous Persons.
Descendants of the Paleo-Indians lived in small, mobile groups, hunting, gathering, and fishing. Over thousands of years, their numbers grew and they began to manage their environments—farming, growing corn, beans, squash, and other plants for food and medicine, and hunting and fishing according to the seasons.
They adapted to their forested habitat with new technologies, including tools of chipped or ground stone, wooden implements, ceramics, textiles, leather, basketry, dome-shaped houses (known as wetus or wigwams), and maneuverable canoes. They established social, political, and religious institutions embedded in family, clan, community, and natural and supernatural beliefs.
At the time of earliest European contact (around 1500 A.D.), tens of thousands of indigineous people lived in Massachusetts. They spoke a variety of dialects and languages, all derived from the Algonquian language family. They formed many communities, including the Massachusett, Wampanoag, Pennacook, Mahican (Stockbridge), Pocumtuck, and Nipmuck. Their settlements and hunting grounds were spread across the entire state, from easternmost Cape Cod (Nauset) to the western mountains (Housatonic).
Tragically, early European travelers introduced new diseases to the indigineous population. The first recorded epidemics began in coastal Massachusetts in 1616 and 1617, and devastated vulnerable populations by as much as 90%.
When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they found many areas abandoned. They established Plimoth Plantation on the site of Patuxet, a depopulated indigineous people settlement. Disease and war claimed many indigineous people's lives throughout the 17th century.
Despite centuries of oppression and poverty, indigineous people communities have persevered to this day. They are a deeply rooted, vigorous part of the diverse mix of people that comprise 21st century Massachusetts.
Early European Contact
European history in Massachusetts begins with adventurous explorers, who wandered about the coast of Massachusetts centuries before the Mayflower arrived.
Norse legend claims that Leif Erikson landed in Massachusetts in the year 1000, while fishermen from France and Spain, bound for the teeming waters off the Grand Banks, occasionally stopped to cast their nets for cod.
In 1497 and 1498, John Cabot explored the territory as part of England’s original claim to North America. Other voyagers sailed through, seeking a new route to the fabled treasures of the exotic East, and early colonization plans took vague shape.
In 1602, Bartholemew Gosnold explored the bay and christened Cape Cod for the fish that swarmed about it. Twelve years later, John Smith wrote of his New England journeyings with a fervor that stirred the blood of discontented English farmers, describing "Many iles all planted with corne; groves, mulberries, salvage gardens and good harbours."
In 1634, a second enthusiast, William Wood, contributed his "New England Prospect" to the growing travel literature of the New World. Word spread in Europe of great wealth and new trade, but the first settlements originated not in material but in religious aspirations.
The Pilgrims, seeking religious freedom, sailed for North America. After approximately 65 days at sea, they landed in what is now Provincetown harbor on Saturday, November 11, 1620.
The Pilgrims spent a few weeks exploring the surrounding area before crossing the bay, establishing their colony in Plymouth on December 2. They chose Plymouth under the influence of John Smith’s "A Description of New England."
They established a democratic government in Plymouth, abiding by the terms of the famous "Mayflower Compact," an agreement binding all to conform to the will of the majority.
In spite of great hardship, the Pilgrim settlement prospered (with support from the local Wampanoag, including the English-speaking Squanto and Chief Massasoit), and in 1621, they observed the first Thanksgiving. Gradually, they established small fishing and trading stations, notably at Wessagusset (Weymouth), Quincy, and Cape Ann.
The Puritans, who were also determined to find a place where their religious views and practices would be free from persecution, arrived a few years later.
In 1628, a shipload of emigrants led by John Endicott left England for Salem, joining Roger Conant's band of refugees from the abandoned fishing station on Cape Ann. The Rev. John White originally formed the station in 1623 as the "Dorchester Company." It originally consisted of a group who came to be called the "Old Planters" — Richard Norman, John Balch, Peter Palfrey, Walter Knight, and John Woodbury. The company did not succeed as a fishing station, so it was abandoned and some members returned to England. The remaining settlers, including John Woodbury, moved in 1626 from Cape Ann further south to Salem, then called "Naumkeag."
In 1627, Woodbury returned to England to seek a charter for Rev. White's supporters. On March 19, 1628, the King granted a royal charter to the Massachusetts Bay Company, promoting the settlement of the territory "from sea to sea" that had been granted to the Puritans, and to govern its colonies. The charter was the first foundation of government for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It provided for a General Court, a single body of which the Court of Assistants was an integral part. The Court of Assistants eventually separated from the General Court and became America's first elected Upper House.
Colonization
John Winthrop arrived at Salem in 1630 bearing the prized charter, establishing a self-contained English colony governed by its own members. Winthrop eventually moved from Salem to Charlestown, and then to Boston, founding additional settlements. By 1640, the immigrant population Massachusetts numbered 16,000, all seeking greater opportunity and a free environment for their dissentient religious views.
Many also felt it their mission to "civilize" the land and its people. This mission is captured in the first seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which shows an indigineous people saying "Come Over and Help Us."
Colonization spread rapidly along the coast and then westward. Those left restless and rebellious against rigid ministerial rule explored what are now other New England states, founding towns based upon the Massachusetts pattern.
Colonists earned a living through small-scale farming, and compact settlements with outlying fields grew up around the central green, which is a characteristic of old New England towns.
Long winters offered opportunity for handicraft, and "Yankee ingenuity" first showed itself in the variety of products created by farmers to supply their needs.
The most enduring feature of the community pattern was the town meeting, in which every taxpayer had equal voice. This democratic governmental procedure greatly contributed to the nation’s political development.
Massachusetts Bay Colony Era
The Massachusetts Bay Colony resolved issues without English interference until 1660, when the Stuarts were restored to the throne. They issued stricter control on the burgeoning colony. Massachusetts stoutly resisted all attempts at regulation from abroad, and consequently lost its charter in 1684, becoming a part of the Dominion of New England under the administration of Sir Edmund Andros. Massachusetts continued to oppose the will of the Crown for four years.
When James II fled in 1688, the Puritans attempted to revive the Massachusetts Bay Company. They failed, and Massachusetts became a Royal Province under a Governor appointed by the Crown in 1691. Two legislative houses were permitted, however, and the requirement that every voter must be a church member was abolished.
England imposed new restrictions on its Royal Provinces, which applied in Massachusetts and elsewhere, and provoked controversies that culminated in the Revolutionary War.
Massachusetts grew in population and maritime trade during the latter 17th and early 18th centuries. These were the years of the Second Hundred Years' War between France and England.
Forces from Massachusetts played an important part in these wars, specifically helping to capture the fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, in 1745. The heavily fortified fortress was known as the "Gibraltar of America" because of its strength.
At the same time, Massachusetts' maritime trade increased, especially with Caribbean ports. Because of this, Boston eventually became known as "The Mart (or market town) of the West Indies."
English Repression and Revolutionary War
With England distracted by the ongoing wars with France, it had less time to enforce its restrictive laws on the American colonies. Lax enforcement, however, led to undesired colonial conduct, as some established trade with France, and others refused to pay a fixed share of the war's expenses. These actions pushed the Crown to adopt stricter colonial policies. These policies, along with the colonist’s responses and protests, fed the desire for American independence.
The Sugar Act of 1764 nearly abolished foreign gold trade in Massachusetts, while the Stamp Act of 1765 taxed most of the colony’s remaining funds. Rioting and boycotts forced the repeal of the Sugar Act in 1766, but other repressive measures followed—and the people of Massachusetts actively resisted each new imposition.
On March 5, 1770, a group of British soldiers in Boston fired upon a taunting group of protestors in the town, culminating in the infamous "Boston Massacre." The action was an ominous sign of the Revolution to come.
England passed the Tea Act in 1773, giving overwhelming subsidies (through a tax rebate) to the East India Company. In response, Samuel Adams orchestrated the "Boston Tea Party," directing a group of Bostonians, disguised as indigineous people, to dump the cargoes of three East India Company ships into Boston Harbor.
England retaliated by closing the Port of Boston, and by issuing the "Intolerable Acts." The colonial patriots further responded by calling a Continental Congress that ordered a general boycott of English goods.
On April 19, 1775, the embattled farmers, warned by the historic rides of Paul Revere and William Dawes, engaged the British regulars at Lexington and Concord, firing "the shot heard round the world."
The Siege of Boston followed, as did the "glorious defeat" at the Battle of Bunker Hill. After eleventh months of fighting, the British evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776. March 17 is now celebrated as "Evacuation Day" in Boston and Suffolk County.
Massachusetts, where the first blood of the Revolution was shed, had won the first important victory. For the remainder of the war, the state would never again have enemy troops within its borders.
Post-War Struggles
The newly-independent Massachusetts quickly encountered post-war problems of government, social, and economic progress without, for the first time in history, the English Parliament's guidance.
After several years of friction under an unsatisfactory Executive Council, which did not properly represent the people, a Constitutional Convention drew up a Constitution drafted by John Adams, and the people ratified it on June 15, 1780.
Massachusetts originated the Constitutional Convention, and insisted on separate popular ratification of every article in the original Constitution and every subsequent amendment.
The Constitution of Massachusetts is the oldest written constitution in the world still in effect.
After a period of economic depression and political discontent, the United States adopted the Federal Constitution in 1789. Under Washington’s presidency, Massachusetts prospered and expanded foreign commerce—both through trade with China and by acquiring much of the carrying trade formerly shared between England and France.
The Commonwealth remained affluent and satisfied with the state of the nation throughout the Washington and Adams administrations, lasting through Thomas Jefferson's first term.
However, Jefferson imposed the Embargo Act in his second term, as retaliation for French and English interference with American shipping. Maritime Massachusetts suffered more than any other state.
Worse still, the War of 1812 would completely cease the Massachusetts ocean trade. The Commonwealth opposed "Mr. Madison's War" until its conclusion in 1815.
A New Era
Industrial interests and developments eventually consumed the Boston area, and Massachusetts enterprise devoted itself almost entirely to commerce.
Because the Embargo and the War of 1812 cut off trade from England, the American states were forced to manufacture essential goods themselves.
In 1816, Congress passed a protective tariff to shield the young industries from foreign competition.
Over time, manufacturing became more concentrated in New England—and particularly in Massachusetts. Industries benefitted from plentiful waterpower, skilled labor from farmers trained in handcraft, and multiple capital investments.
In 1814, Francis Cabot Lowell established his perfected power loom in Waltham. The textile industry, which eventually transformed Lawrence, Lowell, Fall River, New Bedford, and other cities into great manufacturing centers, began in earnest.
Factories began to employ young women in greater numbers for the first time; this allowed women to be more accepted in public life, and later, in political activism.
Agriculture, meanwhile, suffered as the American industrial revolution expanded.
After the Erie Canal opened in 1825, products from the fertile West could now be transported—quickly and inexpensively—to New England. This made competition difficult.
As a result, Massachusetts farmers moved west—or left their farms for the factories.
Dismayed by the westward movement of its people, Commonwealth officials attempted to stay the trend through governmental and religious reforms.
In 1820, the Constitutional Convention further liberalized the state constitution, giving the people a greater voice in their government.
In 1833, another constitutional amendment completely separated church and state. The course of government had moved nearer to the goal of a democratic people.
Intellectual Activity
Intellectualism expanded in Massachusetts during the early decades of the 19th century.
Emerson, Thoreau, and their followers preached Transcendentalism, championing the innate nobility of man and the doctrine of individual expression.
Horace Mann, serving as the newly appointed state Secretary of Education, persuaded legislators to establish universal, tax-supported public elementary education.
Dorothea L. Dix campaigned on behalf of the mentally ill, helping to create the first generation of American mental asylums.
Colonies of idealists established utopian communal experiments, most notably at Brook Farm in West Roxbury. These communities aimed to demonstrate that the sharing of labor—and the fruits from that labor—were ideal foundations for community living. Minds teemed with ideas for social progress.
The abolitionist movement arose out of this lively intellectual period.
In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison, an ardent foe of slavery, founded the weekly newspaper, The Liberator.
Garrison also formed the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Prominent men and women of this society helped slaves escape to Canada through the "Underground Railroad," and a spirit of reform dominated the Commonwealth until the conclusion of the Civil War.
During the Civil War, Massachusetts eagerly supplied troops and funds to the Union effort, including the first African-American regiments to be mustered.
Industry further expanded in Massachusetts after the Civil War.
Raw materials became the dominant import through the Port of Boston, as local factories demanded more of them.
While the Commonwealth continued to net large sums from Boston and Gloucester fisheries (after the decline of New Bedford whaling), its living now came largely from machines.
Prosperous Industry
By the end of the 19th century, Massachusetts factories produced more than one-third of the nation's woolen goods.
Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, and New Bedford were preeminent in cotton textiles.
The boot and shoe industry, and the associated leather tanning industry, greatly expanded. By 1900, the factories of Lynn, Brockton, Haverhill, Marlborough, Worcester, and other Massachusetts cities made about half the boots and shoes produced in the entire country.
The early 20th century industrial expansion wove much of the basic pattern of the Bay State's continuing success.
Machinery became increasingly important, and towns established large plants to manufacture more machines. These plants employed thousands of workers, many highly skilled. Industrial diversification, along with a large reservoir of expert workers, helped maintain the status of Massachusetts as an important segment of the country's economy.
Industrial opportunities continued to draw immigrants to the Commonwealth, transforming the predominantly English population into a mixture of national groups.
In 1930, Massachusetts’ population was 4,249,614, with 65.04% either foreign-born or of foreign or mixed parentage.
New citizens—and new cultures—flowed into the Commonwealth. Finns, Letts, Lithuanians, and Turks joined the Scots and Irish, who had arrived in large numbers before the Civil War. French, Italians, Poles, Portuguese, Germans, and Slavs came around the turn of the 20th century. In recent years, people from Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Caribbean have followed the paths first marked by descendants of those first immigrants, the Pilgrims and the Puritans.
Progressive Laws
New types of citizens, along with new lifestyles, meant new challenges for the Commonwealth to solve. These challenges spurred a wave of progressive legislation, designed to expand Massachusetts’ industrial, educational, and cultural influence. Some advances were more effective than others.
The General Court enacted laws, more progressive in their day than any other in the nation, to prevent exploitation of women and minors, and to guard the health of all workers.
Early Massachusetts civil rights laws were also quite progressive. As documented by the National Park Service and the Museum of American History, the General Court outlawed public school segregation statewide in 1855, nearly a century before Brown v. Board of Education outlawed it federally. However, the practice would continue unofficially in the state until the 1960s.
While many prominent suffragettes came from Massachusetts (Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone among them), the Commonwealth did not fully enfranchise women until the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandated enfranchisement nationwide.
The Massachusetts Board of Education established public school systems in every village and city, and the Commonwealth also gained higher education influence through its many universities and colleges.
Public libraries were already well established in every Massachusetts community by the early 20th century, and along with various museums, provided important educational and cultural advantages.
Industrial Evolution
The Commonwealth’s industrial output experienced several peaks and troughs in the 20th century.
Production initially expanded to meet the demands of World War I, and continued to grow until the Great Depression in 1929. The trend toward decentralization, and the movement of industry nearer to the sources of raw materials, slowed recovery in subsequent years.
The economy rebounded by 1939, when World War II began in Europe. Massachusetts again profited by two of its major assets: skilled labor and proximity to major markets. World War II expanded the economy to unforeseen levels.
After World War II, employment remained high, as workers managed ever-widening fields and new industries utilized Massachusetts’ unsurpassed research facilities.
The Korean War further stimulated industry, and production and high employment continued after the war ended.
During the early years of the Vietnam War, the economic future of the Commonwealth trended toward the military and aerospace industries. By the end of the 1960s, however, war de-escalation and cutbacks in the space program forced the Commonwealth to develop new industrial markets.
During the late 1970s, the Commonwealth began to adopt more sophisticated and efficient manufacturing methods, driven by evolutions in high technology. This once again demonstrated the Commonwealth's proficiency in adapting new techniques developed by research.
A large pool of educated people, a fortuitous economic atmosphere, and perhaps some Yankee entrepreneurial spirit fueled an economic boom in Massachusetts in the mid-1980s, mostly in the high-tech industries. Unemployment rates were among the lowest in the nation, many ambitious social and environmental programs began, and Route 128, a road encircling Boston, earned its title as "America's Technology Highway" as high-technology companies continued to cluster there.
However, in the late 1980s, an economic decline struck Massachusetts and the rest of the Northeast, forcing a retrenching and reappraisal of the government and economy of the state.
The Future of the Commonwealth
The cycle of retreats and renewals is a phenomenon that Massachusetts has encountered often in its long history. Fortunately, the Commonwealth is not standing still.
Logan International Airport, along with improvements in the Port of Boston, have made Boston one of America's premier transport centers.
The Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment administers the Commonwealth's trading potential with Canada, Europe, and other nations.
Newer industries, such as biotechnology, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, marine sciences, and polymer technology, continue to grow, many in conjunction with Centers of Excellence programs, ambitious mutual support networks of governments, businesses, and academia.
With the strength of more than 140 colleges and universities, an impressive industrial capacity, environmental study institutions, and world-renowned medical centers, Massachusetts can feel optimistic about its future in a changing world.
(Source: Department of Economic Development's Toward A New Prosperity: Building Regional Competitiveness Across the Commonwealth, 2002).