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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Massachusetts

Massachusetts is bordered on the north by New Hampshire and Vermont; on the west by New York; on the south by Connecticut and Rhode Island; and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. At the southeastern corner of the state is a large, sandy, arm-shaped peninsula called Cape Cod. The islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket lie to the south of Cape Cod.

Massachusetts is known as the Bay State because of the several large bays that give its coastline its distinctive shape: Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay on the state's east coast, and Buzzards Bay to the south. A few cities and towns on the Massachusetts–Rhode Island border are also adjacent to Narragansett Bay.

Boston is the largest city, located at the inmost point of Massachusetts Bay, at the mouth of the Charles River, the longest river entirely within Massachusetts. Most of the population of the Boston metropolitan area (approximately 5,800,000) does not live in the city; eastern Massachusetts on the whole is fairly densely populated and largely suburban. Western Massachusetts is more rural and sparsely populated, especially in the Berkshires, the branch of the Appalachian Mountains which forms the western border of the state. The most populated part of western Massachusetts is the "Pioneer Valley," alongside the Connecticut River, which flows across Western Massachusetts from north to south.

The fourteen counties, moving roughly from west to east, are Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, Worcester, Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket. Areas under the control and management of the National Park Service include:

• Adams National Historical Park near Quincy
• Longfellow National Historic Site in Cambridge
• Appalachian National Scenic Trail
• Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell
• Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Worcester County
• Minute Man National Historical Park at Concord
• Boston African American National Historic Site in Boston
• New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford
• Boston Harbor Islands
• Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor
• Boston National Historical Park
• Salem Maritime National Historic Site in Salem
• Cape Cod National Seashore
• Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site at Saugus
• Essex National Heritage Area at Salem
• Springfield Armory National Historic Site near Springfield
• Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline
• Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Wild and Scenic Rivers
• John F. Kennedy National Historic Site at Brookline
• Westfield Wild and Scenic River near Westfield

History

Main article: History of Massachusetts

• Colonial Massachusetts - Massachusetts was the most important northern colony, as well as an important part of New England, where many American institutions and traditions were formed. Unlike southern colonies, it was built around small towns, rather than scattered farms. The Pilgrims settled the Plymouth Colony, and Puritan settlers traveled to Salem and later to Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As the Puritans gradually secularized and became known as Yankees, the Congregational Church continued to dominate most small towns. Late in the colonial period Baptist and other dissenting churches emerged, and the elites in Boston and other cities turned to the Anglican and Unitarian religions. The colony defeated some Indian tribes in King Philip's War in the 1670s, and fought with Britain a series of French and Indian Wars that were characterized by brutal border raids, and successful attacks on Canada.
• Pre-revolutionary events - Massachusetts was a center of the American Revolution, with actions by the patriots and counter-actions by the Crown (including the Intolerable Acts) a main reason for unity of the 13 colonies and the outbreak of war, starting with battles around Boston in 1775-76. Also see Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party.
• Battles of the American Revolution - Battles of Lexington and Concord, Siege of Boston, Battle of Bunker Hill.
• First Governor of the Commonwealth - John Hancock was the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
• Shays' Rebellion - Western Massachusetts uprising after the Revolution.
• U.S. Constitution - On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• Slavery - According to a 1790 census, Massachusetts had a slave population of zero.
• District of Maine - On March 15, 1820, Maine was separated from Massachusetts, of which it had been a non-contiguous part, and entered the Union as the 23rd State. (See Missouri Compromise)
• U.S. Civil War - The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was one of the first African-American regiments in the U.S. military.
• The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T) - Known as the Big Dig to locals, it is the most expensive single highway construction project in the United States. The project began 1991, with final construction occurring in 2006.
• Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal - In 2002, the diocese was found to have knowingly moved priests who sexually molested children from parish to parish and to have covered up abuse.
• Same-sex marriage - On November 18, 2003, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that the state could not deny marriage rights to same-sex couples under the state constitution. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts.
• Invention of sports:

• Basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891.
• Volleyball was invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895.

Demographics

Population

As of 2005, Massachusetts has an estimated population of 6,398,743, which is a decrease of 8,639, or 0.1%, from the prior year and an increase of 49,638, or 0.8%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 131,329 people (that is 426,232 births minus 294,903 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 73,741 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 162,674 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 236,415 people.

The population of Massachusetts in 2004 included 881,400 foreign-born residents.

The bulk of the state's population surrounds Greater Boston, with approximately 5,800,000 people, and the North and South Shores. Historically, the coast has been much more urban than Western Massachusetts, which is very rural, save for the cities of Springfield and Worcester.

Massachusetts has one of the highest populations of Irish ancestry in the nation. Massacusetts also consists of one of the largest Italian populations in America. Other influential ethnicities are Greek Americans, Polish Americans and Franco-Americans. Massachusetts Yankees of colonial English ancestry still have strong presence in the small towns. Franco-Bay Staters are the largest group in much of western and central Massachusetts. Boston has a large African-American population and its largest immigrant group is Haitians. Fall River and New Bedford on the south coast have large populations of people with Portuguese and Brazilian heritages, with a growing Brazilian population in the Boston area. Lowell, in the northeast of the state, is home to the second largest Cambodian (Khmer) community in the country, outside of Long Beach, California. Although most of the Native Americans intermarried or died out, the Wampanoag tribe maintains a small reservation at Aquinnah, on Martha's Vineyard and a non-recognized reservation at Mashpee. The Nipmuck maintain two state-recognized reservations in the central part of the state. In the 2004 census, around 25 percent of people living in Massachusetts claim to have Irish heritage.

Religion

Massachusetts was initially founded and settled by staunch Puritans in the 17th century and remained a majority-Yankee state for most of its history. Today Protestants make up less than one-third of the state's population, but have a prominent role in finance, big business, the arts, education, and cultural institutions. Catholics now predominate due to massive immigration from Ireland, Quebec, Italy, Portugal, and Puerto Rico. A large Jewish population came to the Boston area 1880-1920. Mary Baker Eddy made the Boston Mother Church of Christian Science the world headquarters. The descendants of the Puritans belong to many different churches; in the direct line of inheritance are the Congregational/United Church of Christ and Unitarian Universalist churches. Both of these denominations are noted for their strong support of social justice, civil rights, and moral issues, including strong and early advocacy of abolition of slavery, women's liberation, and (after 2000) legal recognition of gay marriage.

The religious affiliations of the people of Massachusetts (as of 2001) are shown in the table below:

• Christian – 79%
  • Catholic – 47%
  • Protestant – 31%
    • Congregational/United Church of Christ – 4%
    • Baptist – 4%
    • Episcopal – 3%
    • Methodist – 2%
    • Pentecostal – 2%
    • Other Protestant or general Protestant – 16%
  • Latter-day Saint 1%
  • Other Christian – 1%
• Jewish – 2%
• Unitarian – 1%

• Other Religions – 1%
• Non-Religious – 17%

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Massachusetts's total state product in 2003 was US$297 billion. Per capita personal income in 2004 was US$42,102, making it the 2nd highest in the country behind Connecticut.

Its agricultural outputs are seafood, nursery stock, dairy products, cranberries, and vegetables. Its industrial outputs are machinery, electric equipment, scientific instruments, printing, and publishing. Thanks largely to the Ocean Spray cooperative, Massachusetts is the second largest cranberry producing state in the union (after Wisconsin). Other sectors vital to the Massachusetts economy include higher education, health care, financial services and tourism.

Massachusetts has a flat rate personal income tax of 5.3 percent. The state imposes a 5 percent sales tax on retail sales of tangible personal property in Massachusetts by any vendor. All real and tangible personal property located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. The administration of the assessment and collection of all real and tangible personal property taxes in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is handled by the city and town assessor and collected in the jurisdiction where the property is located. Massachusetts imposes a tax on any gains from the sale or exchange of capital assets held for more than one year. The state also collects a 12 percent tax on interest (except interest from Massachusetts banks), dividends, gains from the sale or exchange of capital assets held for one year or less (short-term capital gains). There is no inheritance tax and limited Massachusetts estate tax related to federal estate tax collection.

See also: Massachusetts locations by per capita income

Transportation

The Big Dig is the largest tunnel transportation system in the world. Interstate systems crossing the state include: I-91, I-95, and I-90.

Law and government

Main article: Massachusetts Government

See also: Massachusetts Constitution and Governor of Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Constitution was ratified in 1780 while the Revolutionary War was still in progress, nine years before the United States Constitution was adopted. It is the oldest written Constitution now in use in the world. It specified three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.

The governor is head of the executive branch and serves as chief administrative officer of the state and as commander-in-chief of the Massachusetts' military forces. The current governor is Mitt Romney (Republican). All governors of Massachusetts are given the title His Excellency, a carry-over from the Commonwealth's British past, despite titles being uncommon in American political traditions. Responsibilities of the governor include preparation of the annual budget, nomination of all judicial officers, the granting of pardons (with the approval of the governor's Council), appointments of the heads of most major state departments, and the acceptance or veto of each bill passed by the Legislature. Several executive Offices have also been established, each headed by a secretary appointed by the governor, much like the president's Cabinet.

The Governor's Council (also called the Executive Council) is composed of the Lieutenant Governor and eight councilors elected from councilor districts for a two-year term. It has the constitutional power to approve judicial appointments and pardons, to authorize expenditures from the Treasury, to approve the appointment of constitutional officers if a vacancy occurs when the Legislature is not in session, and to compile and certify the results of statewide elections. It also approves the appointments of notaries public and justices of the peace.

"The Great and General Court," elected every two years, is made up of a Senate of 40 members and a House of Representatives of 160 members. The Massachusetts Senate is the second oldest democratic deliberative body in the world. Each branch elects its own leader from its membership. The Senate elects its President; the House its Speaker. These officers exercise power through their appointments of majority floor leaders and whips (the minority party elects its leaders in a party caucus), their selection of chairs and all members of the joint committees, and in their rulings as presiding officers. Joint committees of the General Court are made up of 6 senators and 15 representatives, with a Senate and House Chair for each committee. These committees must hold hearings on all bills filed. Their report usually determines whether or not a bill will pass. Each chamber has a separate Rules and a Ways and Means Committee and these are among the most important committee assignments.

Judicial appointments are held to the age of seventy. The Supreme Judicial Court, consisting of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, is the highest court in the Commonwealth; it is empowered to advise the Governor and the Legislature on questions of law. All trials are held in departments and divisions of a unified Trial Court, headed by a Chief Administrative Justice assisted by an Administrator of Courts. It hears civil and criminal cases. Cases may be appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court or the Appeals Court for review of law, but findings of fact made by the Trial Court are final. The Superior Court, consisting of a Chief Justice and sixty-six Associate Justices, is the highest department of the Trial Court. Other departments are the District, Housing, Juvenile, Land, and Probate Courts.

Massachusetts's two U.S. senators (Since 1985) are Edward Kennedy (Democrat) and John Kerry (Democrat); as of the 2001 redistricting, Massachusetts has ten seats in the United States House of Representatives (all Democratic), giving Massachusetts the largest one-party delegation in Congress (i.e. twelve Democrats). The state legislature is formally styled the "Great and General Court" and is manned mostly by Democrats; the highest court is the "Supreme Judicial Court."

Politics

During the first half of the 1900s Boston was socially conservative, and strongly under the influence of Methodist minister J. Frank Chase and his New England Watch and Ward Society, founded in 1878. In 1903, the Old Corner Bookstore was raided and fined for selling Boccaccio's Decameron. Howard Johnson's got its start when Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude was banned in Boston, and the production had to be moved to Quincy. In 1927, works by Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and Sherwood Anderson were removed from bookstore shelves. "Banned in Boston" on a book's cover could actually boost sales. Burlesque artists such as Sally Rand needed to modify their act when performing at Boston's Old Howard. The clean version of a performance used to be known as the "Boston version." By 1929, the Watch and Ward society was perceived to be in decline when it failed in its attempt to ban Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, but as late as 1935 it succeeded in banning Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour. Censorship was enforced by city officials, notably the "city censor" within the Boston Licensing Division. That position was held by Richard J. Sinnott from 1959 until the office was abolished on March 2, 1982. In modern times, few of such puritanical social mores persist.

Massachusetts has since gained a reputation as being a politically liberal state and is often used as an archetype of liberalism. Massachusetts is the home of the Kennedy family of political fame and routinely votes for the Democratic Party in federal elections. As of 2005, it is by far the largest U.S. state represented totally by one party in the U.S. Congress. Although Republicans have held the governor's office continuously since 1991, many of these (especially William Weld, the first of the recent lineage of Republican governors) are considered among the most liberal Republicans in the nation. Two of these governors, Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift, took office when their predecessors resigned to take other positions.

In presidential elections, Massachusetts supported Republicans until 1912, from 1916 through 1924, in the 1950s, and in 1980 and 1984. From 1988 through 2004, Massachusetts has supported Democratic presidential candidates, giving native son John Kerry his largest margin of victory among states with a 25 percentage point margin and 61.9% of the vote. (It should be noted, however, John Kerry's margin of victory in the District of Columbia was much higher in 2004. Every county in the Commonwealth supported the Democratic candidate.

Following a November 2003 decision of the state's Supreme Court, Massachusetts became the first (and heretofore only) state to issue same-sex marriage licenses on May 17, 2004. See the articles on same-sex marriage in the United States and same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Important cities and towns

Main article: Massachusetts Government#Local government

There are 50 cities and 301 towns in Massachusetts, grouped into 14 counties.

Massachusetts shares with the five other New England states, plus New York and New Jersey, a governmental structure known as the New England town.

Education

Massachusetts is known for having one of the best public school systems in the nation. It has one of the lowest high-school dropout rates in the nation and is tied with New Jersey for having the 2nd highest percentage of students who go on to college after high-school. It is also one of the highest-scoring states on advanced placement tests. In 2004, Massachusetts' high school students ranked 1st in the nation for test scores relating to the fields of math and science.

Massachusetts contains only 2.5% of the U.S. population but is home to many of its most renowned preparatory schools, colleges, and universities[1] (see full list of colleges and universities in Massachusetts). There are 62 colleges located in the greater Boston area alone. The population of metropolitan Boston, in particular, surges during the school year (see list of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston).

Colleges and universities

• Boston College
• Brandeis University
• Harvard University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Tufts University
• Amherst College
• College of the Holy Cross
• Mount Holyoke College
• Smith College
• Wellesley College
• Williams College

Professional sports

• Baseball
  • Boston Red Sox
  • Cape Cod Baseball League
  • Lowell Spinners
  • North Shore Spirit
  • Brockton Rox
  • Worcester Tornadoes
• Basketball
  • Boston Celtics
  • Basketball Hall of Fame (Springfield)
• Football
  • New England Patriots
• Hockey
  • Boston Bruins
  • Lowell Lock Monsters
  • Springfield Falcons
• Lacrosse
  • Boston Cannons
• Soccer
  • New England Revolution
  • Western Mass Pioneers
• Volleyball
  • Volleyball Hall of Fame (Holyoke)

Miscellaneous topics

The Commonwealth's nickname is the Bay State. Other nicknames are the Old Colony State, and less commonly the Puritan state and the Baked Bean state. On December 18, 1990, the Legislature decided that the people of the Commonwealth would be designated as Bay Staters.

Seven ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Massachusetts in honor of this state.

When the Governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the office of Governor remains vacant for the rest of the 4 year term. The Lieutenant Governor does not succeed but only decharges powers and duties as Acting Governor.

The House of Representatives in Massachusetts has a wooden cod, known as the "sacred cod". A wooden cod has hung in the house chamber since the 18th century. It was given to the body by local fisherman as a reminder of that important industry. The cod is filled with superstition to its owning body. In 1933 it was stolen by a group of Harvard students and the House did not sit in session until the cod was returned, while a vast search operation was set underway. It was returned within a week and no one was punished. The Senate has also acquired a fish in part mocking the cod, calling it the "holy mackerel".

The front doors of the state house are only opened when a governor leaves office or a head of state comes to visit the State House. It is also traditionally opened for the return of flags from Massachusetts regiments at the end of wars. The tradition of the ceremonial door originated when leaving governor Benjamin Butler kicked open the front door and walked out by himself in 1884.

Every year, Boston has a St. Patrick's Day Breakfast.

The official donut of the commonwealth is the Boston Cream Donut. [2]

• For other official symbols, see List of official symbols of Massachusetts.

Name

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the indigenous population, the Massachusett, whose name can be segmented as mass-achu-sets, where mass is "great", achu is "hill" and sets is a locative suffix. It 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, located on the boundary of Milton and Canton, to the southwest of Boston.

Commonwealth

Main article: Commonwealth and State naming debate

Massachusetts officially designates itself a "commonwealth." Colloquially, it is often referred to simply as "the Commonwealth," although "state" is used interchangeably.

Famous politicians and public figures

• John Adams, 1st Vice President of the U.S., 2nd President of the U.S., 1800 Federalist presidential nominee
• John Quincy Adams, Congressman, Senator, 6th President of the U.S.
• Samuel Adams, Patriot in the American Revolutionary War
• George H. W. Bush, 43rd Vice President of the U.S., 41st President of the U.S.
• Calvin Coolidge, 29th Vice President of the U.S., 30th President of the U.S.
• Michael Dukakis, Governor, 1988 Democratic presidential nominee
• Benjamin Franklin, Patriot in the American Revolutionary War
• Elbridge Gerry, Congressman, Governor, 5th Vice President of the U.S., namesake of gerrymandering
• John Hancock, Governor, President of the Continental Congress
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Supreme Court Justice
• James Michael Curley, Governor, Congressman, Mayor of Boston
• Edward M. Kennedy, incumbent U.S. Senator, 1980 Democratic presidential candidate
• John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator, 35th President of the U.S.
• Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator (representing New York), 1968 Democratic presidential candidate
• John F. Kerry, Lt. Governor, incumbent U.S. Senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee
• John W. McCormack, Speaker of the House of Representatives
• Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Theodore Sedgwick, President pro tempore of the Senate, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator, 1992 Democratic presidential candidate
• Henry Wilson, U.S. Senator, 18th Vice President of the U.S.

See also

• Boston
• Boston College
• Boston University
• Cape Cod
• Harvard University
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• Moxie
• New England
• Northeastern University
• Patriot's Day
• Puritanism and Transcendentalism
• Salem Witch Trials
• Thanksgiving
• Tufts University

For historical context, see:

• Governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Colonial America
• Slavery in Colonial America
• American Revolution
• History of the United States

References

Overviews and Surveys

• Brown, Richard D. and Jack Tager. Massachusetts: A Concise History (2002)
• Hall, Donald. ed. The Encyclopedia of New England (2005)
• Works Progress Administration. Guide to Massachusetts (1939)

Secondary Sources

• Abrams, Richard M. Conservatism in a Progressive Era: Massachusetts Politics, 1900-1912 (1964)
• Adams, James Truslow. Revolutionary New England, 1691-1776 (1923)
• Adams, James Truslow. New England in the Republic, 1776-1850 (1926)
• Andrews, Charles M. The Fathers of New England: A Chronicle of the Puritan Commonwealths (1919), short survey
• Conforti, Joseph A. Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century (2001)
• Cumbler, John T. Reasonable Use: The People, the Environment, and the State, New England, 1790-1930 (1930), environmental history
• Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride (1994), 1775 in depth
• Green, James R., William F. Hartford, and Tom Juravich. Commonwealth of Toil: Chapters in the History of Massachusetts Workers and Their Unions (1996)
• Huthmacher, J. Joseph. Massachusetts People and Politics, 1919-1933 (1958)
• Labaree,Benjamin Woods. Colonial Massachusetts: A History (1979)
• Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783-1860 (1921)
• Peirce, Neal R. The New England States: People, Politics, and Power in the Six New England States (1976), 1960-75 era
• Porter, Susan L. Women of the Commonwealth: Work, Family, and Social Change in Nineteenth-Century Massachusetts (1996)
• Starkey, Marion L. The Devil in Massachusetts (1949), Salem witches
• Tager, Jack, and John W. Ifkovic, eds. Massachusetts in the Gilded Age: Selected Essays (1985), ethnic groups
• Zimmerman, Joseph F. The New England Town Meeting: Democracy in Action (1999)

External links

• State web site
• Massachusetts US Representatives
• Massachusetts US Senators
• Massachusetts Historical Society
• Maps of Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Republican Party
• Massachusetts Democratic Party
• MassEquality
• Massachusetts Obituary Links Page
• Massachusetts Law About Weapons
• New England Historic Genealogical Society
• GenealogyBuff.com - Massachusetts Library of Files
• 1837 descriptions of Massachusetts cities, towns, mountains, lakes, and rivers, from Hayward's New England Gazetteer.
• Boston Marathon

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