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Lexington, Massachusetts

Lexington, Massachusetts

Lexington is a town located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 30,355. The town is famous for being the site of the opening shots ("the shot heard 'round the world") of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first engagement of the American Revolution.

History

Lexington was first settled in 1642 and was officially incorporated in 1713. [http://www.lexingtonchamber.org/history.html] Every year, on the third Monday of April, the town observes Patriot's Day. Events begin with Paul Revere's Ride, with a special re-enactment of the scene at the Hancock-Clarke House. At 6am, there is a re-enactment of the skirmish on the Battle Green, with the unknown shot being fired from the nearby Belfry. After the rout, the British march on towards Concord, where, in 1775, they captured and destroyed arms stores. Throughout the rest of the year many tourists enjoy tours of the town's historic landmarks, kept up by the town's historical society.

Geography

Lexington is located at 42°26'39" North, 71°13'36" West (42.444345, -71.226928). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 42.8 km² (16.5 mi²). 42.5 km² (16.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.85% water.

Demographics

mi² As of the census of 2000, there are 30,355 people, 11,110 households, and 8,432 families residing in the town. The population density is 714.6/km² (1,851.0/mi²). There are 11,333 housing units at an average density of 266.8/km² (691.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 86.13% White, 1.13% Black or African American, 0.08% Native American, 10.90% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.34% from other races, and 1.41% from two or more races. 1.41% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 11,110 households out of which 37.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.0% are married couples living together, 7.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% are non-families. 20.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 12.3% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.66 and the average family size is 3.10. In the town the population is spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 3.5% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 28.5% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 44 years. For every 100 females there are 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 83.5 males. The median income for a household in the town is $96,825, and the median income for a family is $111,899. Males have a median income of $81,857 versus $50,090 for females. The per capita income for the town is $46,119. 3.4% of the population and 1.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 3.2% of those under the age of 18 and 3.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Current events

In April of 2005 a controversy over a book at Estabrook Elementary School erupted. Kindergarten students were sent home with a [http://estabrook.ci.lexington.ma.us/Diversity/kindergartenbag.html 'diversity bookbag']. The bookbag contained books that told about different kinds of families and had activites for the child to complete with his/her parents/guardians. The books showed families that were divorced, single parents, a family with two fathers, and many other types of families. One local parent, David Parker, objected to the idea of the school sending home a book that portrayed a homosexual family, and complained to the principal of the school. He refused to leave the school property after having been asked to leave several times, Parker was arrested. Parker argues that the school should have informed parents ahead of time that a book teaching children about homosexuality, because Massachusetts state law requires that parents are to be informed before schools teach about sexuality. Lexington Public Schools argues that the book did not teach about sexuality - it simply talked about how some families have two fathers or two mothers. They argue that portraying families does not teach about sexuality, and that there are a number of children of same-gender parents in attendance at Estabrook, making it relavent to the students in the school. The story was picked up by many news sources nationally, causing it to come to the attention of Fred Phelps. Phelps' organization, [http://www.godhatesfags.com God Hates Fags], came to Estabrook to protest. Rev. Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas, also protested the 2005 Lexington High School's senior graduation. His group, along with its slogan "God Hates Fags," was met with extreme opposition, and they ended up returning to their vehicles and leaving.

Sister cities

Lexington is a sister city of: Antony, France

Celebrities from Lexington


- Henry Abraham -- Nobel Peace Prize, current resident
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee -- Inventor of the World Wide Web, current resident
- Noam Chomsky -- world famous professor of linguistics at MIT and left wing author, current resident
- Rachel Dratch -- member of the cast of Saturday Night Live, graduate of Lexington High School
- Carl Everett -- Rightfielder for the Chicago White Sox, former outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, former resident
- Raef LaFrentz -- forward/center for the Boston Celtics
- Fred Fitzgerald -- Olympic Athlete
- Nomar Garciaparra -- Gold Glove-winning shortstop for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, former resident
- Mia Hamm -- Member of the United States women's national soccer team 17 times, former resident
- Bill Janovitz -- Lead singer and guitarist of the rock and roll band Buffalo Tom, current resident
- Salvador Luria -- Nobel Prize in Medicine, former resident
- Mario Molina -- Nobel Prize in Physics, current resident
- Eugene Mirman -- comedian, graduate of Lexington High School
- Joseph Nye -- political analyst, author of Soft power
- Amanda Palmer -- vocalist and pianist, of the band the Dresden Dolls grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, and attended Lexington High School
- Charles Ponzi -- Infamous con man, former resident
- Clifford Shull -- Nobel Prize in Physics, former resident
- Abigail Thernstrom -- Member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, current resident
- Edward Osborne Wilson -- famous entomologist, former resident
- Rollie Massimino -- Lead Villanova Wildcats to an improbable basketball national championship in 1985, former Lexington High School teacher and coach
- Dennis Johnson -- guard for the Boston Celtics, former resident
- Ethan Zohn -- Winner of Survivor:Africa, graduate of Lexington High School
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- African-American Studies scholar, co-editor of Encarta Africana encyclopedia, former (?) resident

Points of interest


- Buckman Tavern
- Hancock-Clarke House
- Minute Man National Historical Park
- Monroe Tavern

External links


- [http://ci.lexington.ma.us/ Lexington official website]
- [http://lps.lexingtonma.org/ Lexington Public Schools] Category:Towns in Massachusetts Category:Middlesex County, Massachusetts ja:レキシントン (マサチューセッツ州)

Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Middlesex County is a county located in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. As of 2000, the population is 1,465,396. Its county seats are Cambridge and Lowell6. The county government was abolished in 1997 but the county itself still survives as a legal venue and for other administrative purposes.

Law and government

Like an increasing number of Massachusetts counties, Middlesex County exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government. All former county functions were assumed by state agencies in 1997. The sheriff and some other regional officials with specific duties are still elected locally to perform duties within the county region, but there is no county council or commissioner. However, communities are now granted the right to form their own regional compacts for sharing services. See also: [http://lwvma.org/govcounty.shtml MassGov page on counties].

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,195 km² (848 mi²). 2,133 km² (823 mi²) of it is land and 62 km² (24 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.84% water.

Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 1,465,396 people, 561,220 households, and 360,864 families residing in the county. The population density is 687/km² (1,780/mi²). There are 576,681 housing units at an average density of 270/km² (700/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 85.88% White, 3.36% Black or African American, 0.15% Native American, 6.26% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.07% from other races, and 2.24% from two or more races. 4.55% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 561,220 households out of which 30.20% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.30% are married couples living together, 9.90% have a female householder with no husband present, and 35.70% are non-families. 27.10% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.50% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.52 and the average family size is 3.11. In the county the population is spread out with 22.50% under the age of 18, 9.00% from 18 to 24, 33.40% from 25 to 44, 22.40% from 45 to 64, and 12.80% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 93.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.70 males. The median income for a household in the county is $60,821, and the median income for a family is $74,194. Males have a median income of $49,460 versus $36,288 for females. The per capita income for the county is $31,199. 6.50% of the population and 4.30% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 7.20% of those under the age of 18 and 7.10% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Cities and towns


- Acton
- Arlington
- Ashby
- Ashland
- Ayer
- -- Fort Devens (former U.S. Army base in Ayer -- also known as "Devens")
- Bedford
- Belmont
- Billerica
- -- Pinehurst (a part of Billerica)
- Boxborough
- Burlington
- Cambridge
- Carlisle
- Chelmsford
- Concord
- -- West Concord (a part of Concord)
- Dracut
- Dunstable
- Everett
- Framingham
- Groton
- Holliston
- Hopkinton
- Hudson
- Lexington
- Lincoln
- Littleton
- -- Littleton Common (a village of Littleton)
- Lowell
- Malden
- Marlborough
- Maynard
- Medford
- Melrose
- Natick
- Newton
- -- Auburndale
  - (a village of Newton)
- -- Chestnut Hill
  - (a village of Newton and Brookline, Massachusetts)
- -- Newton Center
  - (a village of Newton)
- -- Newton Highlands
  - (a village of Newton)
- -- Newton Lower Falls
  - (a village of Newton)
- -- Newton Upper Falls
  - (a village of Newton)
- -- Newtonville
  - (a village of Newton)
- -- Nonantum
  - (a village of Newton)
- -- Waban
  - (a village of Newton)
- North Reading
- Pepperell
- -- East Pepperell (a part of Pepperell)
- Reading
- Sherborn
- Shirley
- Somerville
- Stoneham
- Stow
- Sudbury
- Tewksbury
- Townsend
- Tyngsborough
- Wakefield
- Waltham
- Watertown
- Wayland
- -- Cochituate (a part of Wayland)
- Westford
- Weston
- Wilmington
- Winchester
- Woburn
- Villages are census division, but have no separate corporate existence from the towns they are in.

  - In the City of Newton, villages are post office division, but are commonly used within the community.

External links


- [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/MA/Middlesex/districts.html National Register of Historic Places listing for Middlesex Co., Massachusetts]
- [http://newenglandtowns.org/massachusetts/middlesex-county.html Middlesex County entry from Hayward's New England Gazetteer of 1839] Category:Massachusetts counties

Massachusetts

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

Name

Mass-adchu-et

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the indigenous population, the Massachusett, whose name can be segmented :mass-adchu-et where mass is "great", adchu is "hill" and et is a locative suffix. It has been translated as :at the great hill, or at the place of large hills, or at the range of hills with reference to the Blue Hills, or in particular, Big Blue Hill, located on the boundary of Milton and Canton, to the southwest of Boston.

Commonwealth

Massachusetts officially designates itself a "commonwealth", although "state" is commonly used.

History

Early settlement

Various Algonquin tribes inhabited the area prior to European settlement. In the Massachusetts Bay area resided the Massachusett. Near the Vermont and New Hampshire borders and the Merrimack River valley was the traditional home of the Pennacook tribe. Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and southeast Massachusetts were the home of the Wampanoag, whom the Pilgrims met. The extreme end of the Cape was inhabited by the closely related Nauset tribe. Much of the central portion and the Connecticut River valley was home to the loosely organized Nipmuc peoples. The Berkshires were the home of both the Pocomtuc and the Mahican tribes. Spillovers of Narragansett and Mohegan from Rhode Island and Connecticut, respectively, were also present. The Massachusett, as were all the native Americans on the coast of New England, were heavily decimated by waves of smallpox both before and after the arrival of Captain John Smith in 1614. They had developed no immunity to the disease, a common story when Europeans visited parts of the world remote from Europe. If the tribe had survivors, there is no record of them after this point. The Pilgrims from the Humber region of England established their settlement at Plymouth in 1620, arriving on the Mayflower. One of their first tasks was to form a government, the Mayflower compact. They also suffered grievously from the native smallpox, but they were assisted in their time of trouble by the Wampanoags under chief Massasoit. In 1621 they celebrated their first Thanksgiving Day together to thank God for their survival. About half survived the first year. From that time on the English settlers spread rapidly into clearings and fields depopulated by smallpox, their numbers swelled by the harsh treatment of puritans by Charles I at home. The natives called them the Yengeeze, their pronunciation of English, which became yankee. A shared culture prevailed for a time.

Massachusetts Bay Colony period (1629-1686)

The Pilgrims were soon followed by the Puritans from the River Thames region of England, who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It eclipsed Plymouth in numbers and economy, the chief factor being the good harbor at Boston. The English Revolution began and Massachusetts Bay Colony became a Puritan stonghold. Relations with the natives were still good at this time. In 1646 the Long Parliament gave John Eliot a commission and funds to preach to the Wampanoags. He succeeded in converting a large number. The colonial government placed them in a ring of villages around Boston as a defensive strategy. They were called praying indians. The oldest, Natick, was built in 1651. Although the Puritans came to Massachusetts for religious freedom, they were not tolerant of any religion other than theirs. Pilgrims, as well as Anglicans, Quakers, and a handful of other denominations were grudgingly accepted in the Puritan communities for a time. Then Quakers were banned, and in 1660 four were hanged on Boston Common (see Mary Dyer). People such as Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams, and Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts and went South because of the Puritans' lack of religious tolerance. Williams ended up founding the colony of Rhode Island and Hooker founded Connecticut. The colonists' policy toward natives fared no better than their religious tolerance. They treated natives as simpletons, leading at last to a sanguinary attempt to drive the English into the sea under Massasoit's son, Philip. King Philip's War (1675-1676), the bloodiest Indian war of the early colonial period, included major campaigns in the Pioneer Valley and Plymouth Colony. It took many years for the colonies of southern New England to recover from the effects of the war. The praying indians had attempted to give warning, but they were scorned and ignored. When the blow fell in 1675 the praying indians were caught in the middle. Most left Massachusetts. The colonists took those who stayed into internment on Deer and Long Islands in Boston Harbor, partly for their own protection. The government succeeded in preventing the colonists from massacring them there, but they died of deprivation and disease. Only 400 emerged in 1677, to reoccupy Wampanoag lands in southeastern Massachusetts. Until they merged in 1691, Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony were separate colonies.

Dominion of New England (1686-1692)

In May of 1686, the Massachusetts Bay Colony came to an end, as Joseph Dudley became President of New England under a commission of King James II. He established his authority later in New Hampshire and the King's Province (part of today's Rhode Island), maintaining this position until Sir Edmund Andros arrived to become the Royal Governor of the Dominion of New England. Dudley continued on as a member of Governor Andros' council. At the news of the accession of William and Mary, the Boston colonials rebelled. Andros and his officials were held on Castle Island and then sent back to England as prisoners. Andros was exonerated and went on to become Governor of Virginia (1692–98).

Royal Colony of Massachusetts (1692-1774)

Notable governors during this period were Thomas Hutchinson, Sir Francis Bernard, and Thomas Gage. Gage was the last British governor of Massachusetts.

Revolutionary Massachusetts (1760s-1780s)

Massachusetts was the first colony to revolt against the Crown, and thus the instigator of the American Revolution. On February 9, 1775, the British Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in rebellion, and sent additional troops to restore order to the colony. In Boston on March 5, 1770, an African-American named Crispus Attucks, from Framingham, was killed (along with four other American colonists) at an event that became known as the Boston Massacre; Attucks is often considered the first casualty of the American Revolution. Several early Revolutionary battles took place in Massachusetts, including the Battles of Lexington and Concord (where the famous shot heard 'round the world was fired), the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1780-present)

A Constitutional Convention drew up a Constitution drafted mainly by John Adams, and the people ratified it on June 15, 1780. At that time, Adams along with Samuel Adams, and James Bowdoin wrote in the Preamble to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, 1780: "We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe, in affording us, in the course of His Providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprize, on entering into an Original, explicit, and Solemn Compact with each other; and of forming a new Constitution of Civil Government, for Ourselves and Posterity, and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, Do agree upon, ordain and establish, the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Other notable history


- Battles of the American Revolution - Battles of Lexington and Concord, Siege of Boston, Battle of Bunker Hill.
- Shays' Rebellion - Western Massachusetts uprising after the Revolution.
- First Governor of the Commonwealth - John Hancock was the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- 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 zero population of slaves.
- 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)
- Massachusetts contains many historic houses.
- Invention of sports: :
- Basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts. :
- Volleyball was invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts. :
- The earliest reference to Baseball was also in Massachusetts, in Pittsfield.

Geography

Pittsfield, much more rural than Springfield, in the southern part of the valley, or Boston, which is on the coast.]] 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.

Economy

Connecticut River produces the paper for Federal Reserve notes]] [http://www.bea.gov/ The Bureau of Economic Analysis] estimates that Massachusetts's total state product in 2003 was $297 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was $39,504, 4th in the nation. 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.

Demographics

Population

The population of Massachusetts in 2004 was 6,416,505 according to the US Census Bureau. There were 881,400 foreign-born residents living in the state in 2004. Since 1990 the population has increased 400,000, a growth of 6.7% 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.

Race and Ancestry

The racial makeup of Massachusetts:
- 81.9% White
- 6.8% Hispanic
- 5.4% Black
- 3.8% Asian
- 0.2% Native American
- 2.3% Mixed race The five largest reported ancestries in Massachusetts are: Irish (22.5%), Italian (13.5%), English (11.4%), French (8%), German (5.9%). Massachusetts is the most Irish state in the nation and the only state in which people of Irish ancestry (especially in the Boston suburbs) are a plurality. Massachusetts Yankees of English ancestry still have strong presence in the state, including in Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. 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. Census figures become less reliable due to the large, partly undocumented Brazilian population, estimated by some studies to approach 250,000 in Massachusetts. Census data does not account for this significant segment of the community because of confusing terminology, as Brazilians speak Portuguese and often do not consider themselves specifically Hispanic, Latino, White or African American. 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 were decimated by disease and warfare, the Wampanoag tribe maintains a reservation at Aquinnah, on Martha's Vineyard and a non-recognized reservation at Mashpee. The Nipmuc maintain two state-recognized reservations in the central part of the state.

Religion

Although Massachusetts was initially founded and settled by staunch Protestants (Puritan separatists) in the 17th Century and remained a majority-White Anglo Saxon Protestant state for most of its history, it has since become the second most Catholic state in the Union (second only to next-door Rhode Island in its percentage of Catholic population) due to massive Catholic immigration (especially from Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Quebec, Puerto Rico) over the years. Christian Science began in Massachusetts. Today nearly half of the residents of Massachusetts are Roman Catholics and Protestants make up less than one-third of the state's population. The descendants of the Puritans are the Congregational/United Church of Christ members, who remain prominent in the state. Massachusetts also has one of the nation's largest Unitarian Universalist populations. 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 legal recognition of gay marriage, though this may differ from their historical practices. 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%
  - Other Christian – 1%
- Jewish – 2%
- Unitarian – 1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 17%

Government

Unitarian The capital of Massachusetts is Boston and the current governor is His Excellency 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. The state does not maintain an official governor's residence. Massachusetts's two U.S. senators 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."

Legal holidays observed

Whenever a holiday falls on a Sunday it is observed on the following Monday.
- Celebrated only in Suffolk County (Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop) and the city of Somerville.

Politics

Liberal reputation

Massachusetts has a reputation as being a politically liberal state, and is often used as an archetype of liberalism in the U.S. It 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 by only one party in the U.S. Congress. Although Republicans have held the governor's office continuously from 1991 to the present, many of these (especially William Weld, the first of the recent lineage of Republican governors) are considered among the most progressive Republicans in the nation. Two of these governors, Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift took office when their predecessors resigned to take other positions. The liberal tendencies of Massachusetts extend throughout American history: in the 19th century, Massachusetts was a center of abolitionism, having been the first state to abolish slavery by law. During the Colonial period, Massachusetts was one of the leading states in the fight for independence. Recently, Massachusetts has adopted electronic document formats for the government that have the specifications available, so the people will not have to lock themselves to a proprietary office suite to view government documents. The OASIS OpenDocument XML format and PDF formats have been approved. 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. Every county in the Commonwealth supported the Democratic candidate. On the other hand, during the first half of the 1900s Boston was quite 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.

Defamation of the Commonwealth

In 2002, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania partially blamed the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal on Boston saying "...it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm." These remarks resurfaced in July of 2005 when an editorial in the Boston Globe republished Santorum's comments. Although he was heavily criticized for his remarks, Santorum not only refused to apologize, but, on August 1 2005 he complained that Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts "did nothing" about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in 2002. "They spoke nothing. They sat by and let this happen," Santorum said. During the 2004 Presidential Election, Massachusetts was the target of many GOP regionalist attacks along the campaign trail. When informed that the Democratic National Convention would be in Boston, House Majority Leader Dick Armey remarked, "If I were a Democrat, I suspect I'd feel a heck of a lot more comfortable in Boston than, say, America." While campaigning in the western part of the country, President Bush would often jab, "My opponent says he's in touch with the West, but sometimes I think he means Western Massachusetts." The stump speech that he used at many of his campaign stops included many such remarks directed at Massachusetts and New England in general.

Contemporary political issues

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.

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
- 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.

Massachusetts cities, towns and counties

18th Vice President of the U.S. Massachusetts shares with the five other New England states, plus New York and New Jersey, a governmental structure known as the "New England town."

Prominent cities and towns

There are 50 cities and 301 towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, grouped into 14 counties. Municipalities of historical or cultural prominence include:

Education and research

New Jersey

The central role of education

Massachusetts contains only 2.5% of the U.S. population, but is home to many of its most renowned preparatory schools, colleges, and universities[http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state/] (see full list of colleges and universities in Massachusetts). Eight Boston-area institutions (Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Tufts, and UMass/Boston) are recognized research universities; in the eyes of many they became engines of economic growth following World War II, and currently contribute $7 billion annually to the local economy [http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/econimpact.html]. The population of metropolitan Boston surges noticeably during the school year due to the concentration of colleges and universities in the area (see list of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston).

Prominent colleges and universities

According to U.S. News & World Report, five of the nation's top-50 national universities are located in Massachusetts: Boston College, Brandeis University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University. Massachusetts is also home to six of the nation's top-50 liberal arts colleges : Amherst College, College of the Holy Cross, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Wellesley College and Williams College.

Public schools

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.

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)

Trivia

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. The United States Postal Service abbreviation for Massachusetts is MA and its traditional abbreviation is Mass. 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 doesn't succeed, only decharges powers & duties as Acting Governor (for rest of the 4 year term).

See also


- Moxie
- Patriot's Day
- Puritanism and Transcendentalism
- Salem Witch Trials
- Thanksgiving For historical context, see:
- Colonial America
- American Revolution
- History of the United States

References


- Bond, C. Lawrence, Native Names of New England Towns and Villages Translating 145 Names Derived from Native American Words, privately published by Bond, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1991

External links


- [http://www.state.ma.us State web site]
- [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/massachusetts.html Maps of Massachusetts]
- [http://obit.obitlinkspage.com/ma.htm Massachusetts Obituary Links Page]
- [http://www.genealogybuff.com/ma GenealogyBuff.com - Massachusetts Library of Files]
- [http://newenglandtowns.org/massachusetts Historic descriptions of Massachusetts cities, towns, mountains, lakes, and rivers]
- Category:States of the United States ko:매사추세츠 주 ja:マサチューセッツ州 th:มลรัฐแมสซาชูเซตส์



American Revolution

The American Revolution is the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was one part of the revolution, but the revolution began before the first shot was fired at Lexington and Concord and continued after the British surrender at Yorktown. "The Revolution was effected before the War commenced," wrote John Adams. "The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people." The precise nature and extent of the revolution is a matter of interpretation. It is generally agreed that the revolution originated around the time of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), and ended with the election of George Washington as the first President of the United States in 1789. Beyond that, interpretations vary. At one end of the spectrum is the view that the American Revolution was not "revolutionary" at all; that it did not radically transform colonial society, but 'simply replaced a distant government with a local one'. The opposite view is that the American Revolution was a unique and radical event, producing significant changes that had a profound impact on world history. Most current interpretations fall somewhere in-between these two positions. 1789, and the orange region was claimed by Spain. Note that this map does not show the bulk of British North America of that time.]]

Origins

In the early 1760s, Great Britain possessed a vast empire on the North American continent. In addition to the thirteen British colonies, victory in the Seven Years' War had given Great Britain claim over New France (Canada), Spanish Florida, and the Native American lands east of the Mississippi River. A war against France's former Indian allies—Pontiac's Rebellion—had, if not conquered, at least 'pacified' the western frontier. At this time, most white colonists in America considered themselves loyal subjects of the British Crown, with the same rights and obligations as Englishmen in Britain

Government

Main article: Colonial government in America Colonial government in America]

Philosophy and radical thought

The Enlightenment elevated natural philosophy, and began to replace arguments born of tradition and authority with those based upon observation and independent reasoning. The implications of the earlier scientific revolution began to have a greater effect on everyday life and in the conscious thought of men everywhere. Increased publication and communications between like-minded people opened up new areas to question and consideration. The early works of thinkers like John Locke became the analysis of men like Montesquieu. The "deist" views of several of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and their views on the proper form of government have roots in this European Enlightenment, and were a source for ideas regarding separation of church and state and other liberties. In addition, the ideas of "social contract" and the "Law of Nature" espoused by John Locke and others, gained wide acceptance in thought.

Religious trends

The Great Awakening was the American extension to the earlier religious revivals in Europe. It called into question the authority of established religious institutions; especially, but not exclusively, the Church of England, whose authority many of the colonists had come to New England to escape. The revival placed emphasis upon individual conscience and experience as the source of value in religious experience. Socially, there was also a strong element of 'class' revolt: God worked through grace that was given to every man or woman, regardless of station or level of education. This was a direct challenge to upper-class, aristocratic assumptions about the deference due to authority— it was a model of revolutionary thought to come; it was also the first event that swept through all the colonies, from New England to the Carolinas, as a generally common experience.

Road to rebellion

After the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion, the British government sought to overhaul its expansive North American possessions. In order to make the Empire more stable and profitable, new economic and land distribution policies were implemented. Specifically, the new British policies included the understandable desire of the crown that the colonists would shoulder a greater share of the burdens of war and the cost of their own defense, as well as the curtailment of smuggling with the colonies of the West Indies, the payment of royal tariffs and the exclusive trade with the British homeland. Colonial resentment of these new policies grew steadily throughout the decade, and had a significant impact on the emergence of "Americanism" and the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Economic disputes, 1760-70

The British national debt had risen to alarming levels during the war years and so in 1760 the Crown began a series of economic initiatives designed to extract more revenue from the colonies. These policies were 'justifiable', the reasoning went, because the colonists were enjoying the benefits of the peace that had been won. the Crown In theory, Great Britain already regulated the economies of the colonies through the Navigation Acts, but widespread evasion of these laws had long been tolerated. Now, through the use of open-ended search warrants (Writs of Assistance), strict enforcement became the practice. In 1761, Massachusetts lawyer James Otis argued that the writs violated the constitutional rights of the colonists. He lost the case, but John Adams later wrote, "American independence was then and there born." In 1763, Patrick Henry argued the Parson's Cause case. Clerical pay had been tied to the price of tobacco by Virginia legislation. When the price of tobacco skyrocketed after a bad crop in 1758, the Virginia legislature passed the Two-Penny Act to stop clerical salaries from inflating as well. In 1763, King George III vetoed the Two-Penny Act. Patrick Henry defended the law in court and argued "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience." In 1764, British Prime Minister George Grenville's Sugar Act and Currency Act created economic hardship in the colonies. Protests led to the boycott of British goods, and to the emergence of the popular slogan "no taxation without representation," in which colonists argued that only their colonial assemblies, and not Parliament, could levy taxes on them. Committees of correspondence were formed in the colonies to coordinate resistance to paying the taxes. In previous years, the colonies had shown little inclination towards collective action. Grenville's policies were bringing them together. A milestone in the Revolution occurred in 1765, when Grenville passed the Stamp Act as a way to finance the quartering of troops in North America. The Stamp Act required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the colonies to carry a tax stamp. Colonial protest was widespread. Secret societies known as the Sons of Liberty were formed in every colony, and used propaganda, intimidation, and mob violence to prevent the enforcement of the Stamp Act. The furor culminated with the "Stamp Act Congress", which sent a formal protest to Parliament in October of 1765. Parliament responded by repealing the Stamp Act, but pointedly declared its legal authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” declared its legal authority was designed to inflame opposition to the military occupation of Boston.]] The sequel was not long in coming. In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, placing taxes on a number of common goods imported into the colonies, including glass, paint, lead, paper, and tea. In response, colonial leaders organized boycotts of these British imports. The Liberty, a ship belonging to colonial merchant John Hancock, was suspected of smuggling and was seized by customs officials in Boston on June 10, 1768. Angry protests on the street led customs officials, fearing for their safety, to report to London that Boston was in a state of insurrection. British troops began to arrive in Boston in October of 1768. Tensions continued to mount; culminating in the "Boston Massacre" on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot fired into an angry mob, killing five. Revolutionary agitators like Samuel Adams used the event to stir up popular resistance, but after the trial of the soldiers, who were defended by John Adams, tensions diminished. The Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770 after much protesting, and it was still theoretically possible that further bloodshed in the colonies might be avoided. However, the British government had left one tax from the Townshend Acts in place as a symbolic gesture of their right to tax the colonies—the tax on tea. For the revolutionaries, who stood firm on the principle that only their colonial representatives could levy taxes on them, it was still "one tax too many". This resulted in the Boston Tea Party.

Western land dispute

The Proclamation of 1763 sought to limit the conflicts between Native Americans and the English settlers by restricting settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, groups of settlers, led for example by Daniel Boone, continued to move into the region beyond the Proclamation Line and fought violently with the Shawnees and other peoples inhabiting the area. Furthermore, the Quebec Act of 1774 extended Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio River, reestablished French civil law, and instituted toleration for Roman Catholics in that territory, an action which horrified some colonials, who had come to New England to establish their own protestant sects. Proposals to post British regulars to man forts in the west further disquieted Americans eager to occupy Indian land. protestant

Crises, 1772-75


- Gaspée Affair
- Tea Act of 1773.
- Boston Tea Party - December 16, 1773
- "Intolerable Acts" of 1774.
- The First Continental Congress convened on September 5, 1774 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, which declared the Intolerable Acts to be unconstitutional, called for the people to form militias, and for Massachusetts to form a revolutionary government. Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union is defeated.
- Battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775
- Second Continental Congress convenes on May 10, 1775. :
- Olive Branch Petition -- July 5, 1775, one final attempt by the Continental Congress to appeal to King George to redress their grievances and avoid more bloodshed. The King refuses even to receive the petition.

Choosing sides

1775) originally appeared during the French and Indian War, but was recycled to encourage the American colonies to unite against British rule.]] The American revolutionaries, known as Patriots (or Whigs or rebels), included many shades of opinion. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and George Washington represented a socially conservative faction that would later take shape as the Federalist party and are traditionally characterized as preoccupied with preserving the wealth and power of the "better sorts" of colonial society. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine are usually portrayed as representing the less economically affluent side of society, and political equality. Among other dissenting minorities, a party known as the "anti-federalists", led by George Mason, considered the Constitution of the United States to be a dangerously flawed document, one which would cause greater tyranny than either Parliament or the British Crown; they walked out of the Constitutional Convention without signing it. A great many American colonists remained loyal to the British Crown; these became known as Loyalists (or 'Tories', or 'King's men'). Loyalists were often of the same well-to-do social circle that produced the right wing of the Patriots (for example Thomas Hutchinson); however, the Scottish highlanders of the Mohawk Valley and the frontiersmen of Georgia included a large number of poorer King's men. Some Loyalists were American Indians, notably Joseph Brant, who led a mixed band of Indians and white farmers and laborers in the Loyalist cause. After the war, United Empire Loyalists became a central component of the populations of the Abaco islands (in the Bahamas), the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, where many of them fled to escape persecution in the colonies.

Class differences among the Patriots

Just as there were rich and poor Loyalists, the Patriots were a 'mixed lot', and often had different aims for the revolution. Wealthy Patriots viewed independence as a means of freeing themselves from British taxation and limitations on taking western land, but had every intention of remaining in control of the resulting nation. Many craftsmen, small merchants and small farmers, however, were looking at independence as a means of reducing the power and privilege of the elite. Wealthy Patriots knew that they needed the support of the lower classes, but were fearful of their more radical democratic aims. John Adams (an elite more by education than by wealth) attacked Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the "absurd democratical notions" it proposed.

Women

Common Sense] The boycott of British goods would have been entirely unworkable without the willing participation of American women: women made the bulk of household purchases, and the boycotted items were largely household items such as tea and cloth. And as cloth was still a basic necessity, for the boycott to work, women would have to return to spinning and weaving, skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in Middletown, Massachusetts wove 20,522 yards of cloth. As the Revolution progressed and economic disruption deepened, women participated directly in the food riots and tar and feathering that was the people's response to price gouging by merchants, Loyalist and Patriot alike. On July 24, 1777, Thomas Boyleston, a Patriot merchant who was withholding coffee and sugar from the market waiting for prices to rise, was confronted by a crowd of 100 or more women, who seized the keys to his warehouse and distributed the coffee themselves while a large crowd of men stood by and watched, dumbfounded.

Writing the state constitutions

By 1776, the colonies had overthrown their existing government, closing courts and driving British agents and governors from their homes, and they had elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside of any legal framework whatsoever— new constitutions were desperately needed in each colony to replace the superseded royal charters. On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution, six months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Then, in May, 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown. The new states had to decide not only what form of government to create, they first had to decide how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. This would be just the start of a process that would pit conservatives against radicals in each state. In states where the wealthy exerted firm control over the process, such as Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New York and Massachusetts, the result was constitutions that featured:
- substantial property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications);
- bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower;
- strong governors, with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority;
- few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government;
- the continuation of state-established religion. In states where the less affluent had organized sufficiently to have significant power, especially Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont, the resulting constitutions embodied:
- universal manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting or holding office (New Jersey went so far as to enfranchise women, a radical step that they retracted 25 years later); Vermont
- strong, unicameral legislatures;
- relatively weak governors, without veto powers, and little appointing authority;
- prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts;
- disestablishment of religion. Naturally, the fact that conservatives or radicals held sway in a state did not mean that the side with less power accepted the result quietly. In Pennsylvania, the propertied class was horrified by their new constitution (Benjamin Rush called it "our state dung cart"), while in Massachusetts, voters twice rejected the constitution that was presented for ratification; it was ultimately ratified only as a result of the legislature tinkering with the third vote. The radical provisions of Pennsylvania's constitution were to last only fourteen years— in 1790, conservatives gained power in the state legislature, called a new constitutional convention, and wrote a new constitution that substantially reduced universal white-male suffrage, gave the governor veto power and patronage appointment authority, and added an upper house with substantial wealth qualifications to the unicameral legislature. Thomas Paine called it a constitution unworthy of America.

War for independence, 1775-83

Benjamin Rush Main article: American Revolutionary War Thomas Paine produced a pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with Britain would be republicanism and independence from Great Britain.
- United States Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Confederation Articles of Confederation

America after the war


- Shays' Rebellion - 1786
- Northwest Indian War (1785-1795)
- The Constitutional Convention of 1787 The American Revolution entrenched several noteworthy innovations: the separation of church and state, which ended the special privileges of the Anglican Church in the South and the Congregationalist Church in New England; a discourse of liberty, individual rights and equality which would prove highly appealing in Europe; the idea that government should be by consent of the governed (including the right of rebellion against tyranny); the delegation of power through written constitutions; and the notion that colonial peoples of the Americas could become self-governing nations in their own rights.

The impact on British North America

For tens of thousands of inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies, the victory of the revolutionaries was followed by exile. Approximately fifty thousand United Empire Loyalists fled to the remaining British colonies in North America, such as the Province of Quebec, concentrating in the Eastern Townships, and also Upper Canada (now known as Ontario), as well as in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia - where their presence would result in the creation of New Brunswick. Thus, the seeds of the French-English duality in British North America, which has been arguably the most prominent political and cultural feature of what would one day become Canada were sown.

Revolution beyond America

The American Revolution was the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions that would also take hold in the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American wars of liberation. Aftershocks would also be felt in Ireland in the 1798 rising, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in the Netherlands. The Revolution had a strong immediate impact in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France. Many British and Irish Whigs had been openly indulgent to the Patriots in America, and the Revolution was the first lesson in politics for many European radicals who would later take on active roles during the era of the French Revolution. Jefferson's Declaration had [http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap3a.html an immediate impact] on the French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789. The American Revolution affected the rest of the world. The thinkers of the Enlightenment only wrote that common people had the right to overthrow unjust governments. The American Revolution was a case of practical success, which provided the rest of the world with a 'working model'. The American Revolution set an example to the people in Europe and other parts of the world. It encouraged the people to realize they had rights independent of the sovereign; it promoted republicanism to overthrow monarchs. It incited people to fight for their rights, and it showed them that it was possible to win even against the world's foremost power, Great Britain. Nowhere was the influence more profound than in Latin America, where American writings and the model of a colony that actually broke free and thrived decisively shaped the struggle for independence. Historians of Latin America have identified many links to the U.S. model . See [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=0QghsDsSCB4C&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=jefferson&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Fq%3Djefferson%2Bindependence%2Blatin%2Bamerica&sig=v0afdyhrNgB42XLqhBEB9IQhCDU John Lynch, "The Origins of Spanish American Independence," in Cambridge History of Latin America Vol. 3 (1985), pp 45-46]

Legacy and interpretations


- American exceptionalism, Exceptionalism

See also


- British colonization of the Americas
- Founding Fathers of the United States
- Industrial Revolution
- List of important people in the era of the American Revolution
- Second American Revolution
- Timeline of United States revolutionary history (1760-1789)

Further reading

Origins: :
- Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard University Press, 1967. ISBN 0674443012. :
- Hawke, David. The Colonial Experience. Bobbs-Merrill, 1966. ISBN 0023518308. :
- Miller, John C. Origins of the American Revolution. Little, Brown, 1943; reprinted Stanford University Press, 1959. ISBN 0804705933; 1991 paperback edition: ISBN 0804705941. :
- Nash, Gary B. The Urban Crucible: The Northern Seaports and the Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN 0674930592. :
- Nash, Gary B. The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America. Viking, 2005. ISBN 0670034207. :
- Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revoluiton: How a Revolution Transformed a Monarchical Society into a Democratic One Unlike Any That Had Ever Existed. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0679404937.
- Purcell, L. Edward. "Who Was Who in the American Revolution" (1993)

External links


- [http://www.americanrevolution.com The American Revolution at americanrevolution.com] - historical information, documents, pictures, and more
- [http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ PBS Television Series] ja:アメリカ独立戦争 ko:미국 독립전쟁 Category:American Revolution Category:Rebellions in the United States Category:The Enlightenment Category:Revolutions

1642

Events


- January 4 - Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. Beginning of English Civil War.
- March 1 - Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in America
- March 19 - the citizens of Galway seize an English naval ship, close the town gates and declare for the Irish Confederates.
- May 17 - Sieur de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
- July - Charles I besieges Hull in an attempt to gain control of its arsenal.
- August 7 - Lord Forbes relieves Forthill and besieges Galway.
- September 7 - Lord Forbes raises his unsuccessful siege of Galway.
- September 8 - Thomas Granger executed by hanging at Plymouth, Massachusetts for confessing to numerous acts of bestiality.
- October - Battle of Edgehill.
- November 24 - Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania).
- The Dutch drive Spain from Taiwan.
- Abel Tasman achieves the first recorded European sighting of New Zealand.
- Blaise Pascal produces a mechanical adding machine (the "Pascaline").
- Claudio Monteverdi's opera l'Incoronazione di Poppeia is first performed.
- First Battle of Lostwithiel
- Jean-Baptiste Tavernier brings Hope diamond to Europe
- Puritans close all theaters in England
- Peter Stuyvesant becomes the governor of Curaçao

Births


- January 2 - Mehmed IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1693)
- February 18 - Marie Champmeslé, French actress (d. 1698)
- April 15 - Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
- June 20 - George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715)
- August 14 - Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
- December 6 - Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (d. 1703)
- December 25 - Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1727)
- December 30 - Vicenzo da Filicaja, Italian poet (d. 1707) See also :Category:1642 births.

Deaths


- January 8 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (b. 1564)
- February 7 - William Bedell, English clergyman (b. 1571)
- April 30 - Dmitry Pozharsky, Russian prince (b. 1578)
- July 3 - Marie de' Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (b. 1573)
- August 18 - Guido Reni, Italian painter (b. 1575)
- September 12 - Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, French conspirator (b. 1620)
- October 24 - Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey Fen drainage adventurer and soldier (b. 1583)
- November 1 - Jean Nicolet, French explorer (b. 1598)
- November 7 - Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester, English politician
- December 4 - Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman (b. 1585) See also :Category:1642 deaths. Category:1642 ko:1642년 ms:1642 simple:1642

1713

Events


- April 11 - War of the Spanish Succession: Treaty of Utrecht
- June 23 - French residents of Acadia given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia Canada
- first Orrery built by George Graham

Ongoing events


- Great Northern War (1700-1721)
- War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713)

Births


- January 2 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
- March 15 - Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (d. 1762)
- March 21 - Francis Lewis, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1803)
- March 29 - John Ponsonby, Irish politician (d. 1789)
- April 10 - John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist (d. 1788)
- April 12 - Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French writer (d. 1796)
- April 21 - Louis, 4th duc de Noailles, Marshal of France (d. 1793)
- May 3 - Alexis Claude Clairault, French mathematician (d. 1765)
- May 6 - Charles Batteux, French philosopher (d. 1780)
- May 25 - John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1792)
- June 11 - Edward Capell, English critic (d. 1781)
- June 16 - Meshech Weare, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1786)
- June 22 - Lord John Philip Sackville, English cricketer (d. 1765)
- July 22 - Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect (d. 1780)
- August 1 - Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1780)
- September 23 - King Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1759)
- October 5 - Denis Diderot, French philosopher and encyclopedist (d. 1784)
- October 7 - Granville Elliott, British military officer (d. 1759)
- October 8 - Yechezkel Landau, Polish rabbi and Talmudist (d. 1793)
- October 13 - Allan Ramsay, Scottish painter (d. 1784)
- November 24 - Junipero Serra, Spanish Franciscan missionary (d. 1784)
- November 24 - Laurence Sterne, Irish writer (d. 1768)
- December 4 - Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist (d. 1786)
- December 15 - Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, British statesman (d. 1802)

Deaths


- January 8 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (b.