Massachusetts was visited by Norsemen in the eleventh century. The permanent settlement began in 1620 when some Puritans arrived at Plymouth.
European History The original inhabitants of Massachusetts were the tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusetts.These people were hunter-gatherers and were dependent on fishing for most of their food supply. The first permanent English settlement in the state was made in 1620 when a small band of Puritans landed at Plymouth. Years later in 1630, the Puritans settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony.|
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A new charter was charted wherein Massachusetts became a single colony in 1691, as Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony were combined. There was widespread anxiety over loss of the original charter and this contributed to the witchcraft panic in the state. The panic reached its climax in Salem in 1692. Some nineteen people were hanged to death for refusing to agree to the practice of witchcraft. By the mid-eighteenth century, the state progressed rapidly as fish, limber and farm products began to be exported.
The state suffered lot of damage by the destructive earthquake that occured in 1775.
American RevolutionThe colonists in Massachusetts had difficult relations with the British Monarchy. The state was a center of the movement for independence from Great Britain. The open rebellion under the Dominion of New England in the 1680s, the Boston Massacre (1770) an the Boston Tea Party are examples of the protest spirit in the early 1770s.
These anti-British activities followed by reprisals by the British government set stage for the American Revolution. The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought in the Massachusetts towns of Concord and Lexington initiated the American Revolutionary War. George Washington took charge of the Continental Army after the battle. The Siege of Boston (1775-6) was the first victory under his rule after which the British were forced to evacuate the city. Following the departure of the British, a new constitution was drafted by a constitutional convention under the leadership of John Adams in 1780, that was ratified directly by the citizens.
Shays' Rebellion (1786-87), an armed uprising in the western half of the state changed the course of the state's economy. It was a rebellion by the farmers against crushing war debt and taxes. The rebellion was one reason that was influential in the drafting of a stronger national constitution. The new constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation and this constitution was ratified on February 6, 1788, whereby Massachusetts entered the Union as the sixth state.
In the early nineteenth century, Massachusetts became a leader in the American Industrial Revolution; many textiles, shoes, and paper factories were set up and the economy saw a shift from agriculture to industry. The state was a center of social progressivism, Transcendentalism, and abolitionist activity in the years leading up to the Civil War. There was a large opposition to abolitionism in Massachusetts that led to the anti-abolitionist riots of 1835 and 1837. Opposition to slavery increased in the next few decades which fuelled the Civil War. Massachusetts was the first state to arm a Black regiment with White officers, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
Twentieth CenturyThe early decades of the twentieth century in the state were marked with discontent and a decline in the economy. The exodus of the many manufacturing companies, competition from the South and Midwest, and the Great Depression led to a fall in the economy of the state. The Depression saw the collapse of the three main industries in Massachusetts: textiles, shoemaking, and mechanized transportation.
The economy boomed again during the Second World War II. The growth in the computer and electronics sectors helped Massachusetts prosper during much of the 1980s. However, at the end of the decade, Massachusetts was hit hard by the nationwide recession of 1990s. The situation worsened with the collapse of speculative real estate ventures. By 1992, the state showed signs of recovery, that came with the privatization of highway maintenance and other state-run operations. Small high-tech companies also developed and helped enhance the economy of the state.
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