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Does Massachusetts protect certain civil rights more than the federal law requires?

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Does Massachusetts protect certain civil rights more than the federal law requires?

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When Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, it sent palpable shock waves across the nation that even transcended around the world. The reactions on tv varied to some rejoicing while others literally on their knees sobbing. The same extremities can be found in the abortion policy across the nation, some states either completely banned or implemented strict laws or others keep it legal. Massachusetts falls into the latter category and only bans around 24 weeks into the pregnancy with some circumstances still keeping it legal afterwards. Because of how open the abortion laws are, many citizens travel miles to have their procedure done in Massachusetts to avoid getting arrested. It was reported after the landmark case was overturned that the state saw a 37.5% increase from out of state travelers which is twice as much as the government expected. To accommodate their own residents plus the travelers, for the fiscal budget of 2023 local lawmakers reserved around $2 million solely for clinics and reproductive care.

(Sources: The New York Times "Tracking Abortion Bans Across the Country" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html#:~:text=Twenty%2Done%20states%20ban%20abortion,overturned%20the%20decision%20last%20year.

Planned Parenthood "Abortion Care" https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-massachusetts/campaigns/abortion-care

Harvard T.H. CHAN | School of Public Health "More people traveling to Massachusetts for abortion care" https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/more-people-traveling-to-massachusetts-for-abortion-care/

Mass Live "Abortion: Massachusetts Senate proposes $17.5 million funding boost for reproductive health care, family planning" https://www.masslive.com/politics/2022/07/abortion-massachusetts-senate-proposes-175-million-funding-boost-for-reproductive-health-care-family-planning.html#:~:text=Massachusetts%20is%20a%20state%20that,Wade.)

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Tracking Abortion Bans Across the Country

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The New York Times is tracking the status of abortion laws in each state following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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Gordon v. Johnson and  Castañeda v. Souza

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Gordon v. Johnson and  Castañeda v. Souza

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Immigrants have protected civil rights in the US, even if they are not always upheld like they should be. This specific case is about protecting immigrants from such obstructions of justice. There were immigrants in Massachusetts that were immediately detained without individual bond hearings. The ACLU fought for the 150 detainees to remain with their families while they awaited for their hearings. The judgment from the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ended up ruling in favor of the ACLU and granted those detainees their freedom from the "mandatory" detention.

(Source: ACLU "Gordon v. Johnson and Castañeda v. Souza" https://www.aclu.org/cases/gordon-v-johnson-and-castaneda-v-souza)

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In Castaneda v. Souza, a case that was consolidated for argument with Gordon, the ACLU successfully argued as amicus that the government had improperly subjected Leiticia Castaneda to detention without an individual bond hearing. The case resulted in Ms. Castaneda's release.

Although a panel of the First Circuit upheld the legal basis for the district court's rulings in these two cases, the full Court granted the government's petition for rehearing en banc. On December 23, 2015 in a tied vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the two district court decisions rejecting the government's interpretation of the "mandatory" detention provision. The judgment allows approximately 100 immigrants with pending cases to remain with their families.

Counsel for plaintiffs include the ACLU of Massachusetts, ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, and the Political Asylum / Immigration Representation Project.

photo credit: Paul Shoul

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Gordon v. Johnson and CASTAÑEDA v. Souza | American Civil Liberties Union

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In Gordon v. Johnson, the ACLU and its partners obtained a class action ruling making some 150 Massachusetts detainees a year eligible for individual bond hearings. Rather than being held in "mandatory" immigration detention, without a bond hearing, these noncitizens may now obtain their release if an immigration judge concludes that they do not pose a danger or flight risk.

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The Board of Registration and Medicine is in charge of licensing, regulation, and discipline of Massachusetts physicians. This agency makes sure that only qualified and competent individuals that provide high standards of care are able to serve the citizens of Massachusetts.

(Source: Mass.gov "Board of Registration in Medicine" https://www.mass.gov/orgs/board-of-registration-in-medicine#:~:text=The%20Board%20of%20Registration%20in,of%20Massachusetts%20physicians%20and%20acupuncturists.

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The Board of Registration in Medicine is responsible for licensing, regulation, and discipline of Massachusetts physicians and acupuncturists.

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One major industry in Massachusetts is the medical field. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Vertical Pharmaceutical are both major employers in Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Hospital is also a significant employer in the state. A market research company notes that the drug industry is the leading revenue contributor in Massachusetts.

(Source: LinkedIn "What are the Major Industries in Massachusetts" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-main-industries-massachusetts-get-hired-by-linkedin-news)

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Massachusetts is a state filled with great job opportunities, mainly in the education and medical sectors. Other top industries based on revenue include drug, cosmetic and toiletry wholesaling, and biotechnology. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dell Technologies and Vertex Pharmaceutical are the state's three largest employers. You'll still find the highest-paying jobs in the medical field, making the state an ideal location for medical professionals. Be sure to utilize job search tools like LinkedIn or Mass.gov.
Massachusetts, home to Boston, which ranks No. 18 on the U.S. News Best Places to Live in 2022 - 2023 list, deserves some consideration for those deciding where to live (and work) in the future.

The Bay State has gained 677,100 jobs since April 2020 (as of December 2022). The state saw large job gains in the leisure and hospitality, education and health services, and trade, transportation, and utilities sectors. Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates a job openings rate of 6.5%.

According to U.S. News, most people in the state are employed in the education and health services fields.

Not your desired industries? No worries.

There are numerous high-demand jobs across various industries, from research and insurance to restaurants, online shopping, and even travel. With major employers dotting the state, here's a comprehensive breakdown of the main industries in Massachusetts (based on revenue).

Top Industries in Massachusetts

"In 2022, the state of Massachusetts has a population of 7,002,533, having grown an annualized 0.4% over the five years to 2022, which ranks it 30th out of all 50 US states by growth rate. Massachusetts' gross state product ( GSP) in 2022 reached $543.6b, with growth of 2.3% over the 5 years to 2022," writes IBISWorld.

The market research company notes that the state's three largest industries by revenue are drug, cosmetic and toiletry wholesaling, life insurance and annuities and colleges and universities. The complete rankings are as follows:

1. Drug, cosmetic and toiletry wholesaling

2. Life insurance and annuities

3. College and universities

4. Hospitals

5. Real estate investment trusts

6. Health and medical insurance

7. Biotechnology

8. Portfolio management

9. Public schools

10. Commercial banking

The top three employers by employment include Massachusetts General Hospital, State of Massachusetts and University of Massachusetts System. Last year, each organization employed 75,000, 41,503 and 23,000 people respectively.

Other notable companies are Amazon, Walmart, the City of Boston and Raytheon.

Best Companies to Work for in Massachusetts

Boston, Cambridge and Lowell are home to some of the best places to work in 2022, according to Boston Globe rankings.

1. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

2. Dell Technologies

3. Vertex Pharmaceuticals

4. Senior Living Residences

5. Hologic, Inc.

6. HubSpot

7. Akamai Technologies, Inc.

8. Liberty Mutual Group

9. MassMutual

10. Bright Horizons Family Solutions, LLC

Via anonymous surveys, employees were asked to categorize and score their employers in areas such as benefits and leadership. As expected, based on major industries, many companies fall in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals realm - with some outliers. The top 10 ranked companies and organizations are below:

Note: This list applies to the largest companies in the state, with a size of 1000-plus employees. The No. 1 companies for small, medium and large companies are RapDev, North Easton Savings Bank and Relay Therapeutics.

You can find the complete listings on Top Workplaces.

Highest Paying Jobs in Massachusetts

Overall, the medical field remains one of the key industries in the whole state.

And as we recently reported by Get Hired by LinkedIn News, this field tends to have the highest earning potential. Currently in medical school? Perhaps you're looking to pivot into this field? Massachusetts may be the ideal place for you.

Radiologists (Annual mean salary: $351,310)

Anesthesiologists (Annual mean salary: $349,860)

Surgeons (Annual mean salary: $345,710)

Orthodontists (Annual mean salary: $344,120)

Cardiologists (Annual mean salary: $316,510)

Dentists (Annual mean salary: $312,170 for specialists; $175,140 for general dentists)

Emergency Medicine Physicians (Annual mean salary: $302,850)

Ophthalmologists (Annual mean salary: $300,960)

Pathologists (Annual mean salary: $282,420)

Chief Executives (Annual mean salary: $267,070)

Family Medicine Physicians (Annual mean salary: $259,460)

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (Annual mean salary: $254,020)

Neurologists (Annual mean salary: $243,780)

Obstetricians and Gynecologists - OB-GYNS (Annual mean salary: $234,650)

Psychiatrists (Annual mean salary: $232,750)

Nurse Anesthetists (Annual mean salary: $219,680)

Natural Sciences Managers (Annual mean salary: $218,850)

Pediatricians (Annual mean salary: $197,800)

General Internal Medicine Physicians (Annual mean salary: $183,500)

Podiatrists (Annual mean salary: $177,180)

With salary data from BLS, here are the state's most lucrative occupations:

Next Steps

As you continue your job search, including whether Massachusetts best suits your professional - and personal - needs and wants, utilize employment resources like LinkedIn, Mass.gov or Hire Culture, a free, searchable database of arts, humanities, and science employment opportunities.

Another exciting job-related tidbit? The state's minimum wage is now $15 an hour.

Top Takeaways

Massachusetts, home to Boston, which ranks No. 18 on the U.S. News Best Places to Live in 2022 - 2023 list.

The state is known for its education and health services fields, but 2022 saw growth in fields like drug, cosmetic and toiletry wholesaling and biotechnology.

The Boston Globe ranked the best largest places to work as Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dell Technologies and Vertex Pharmaceutical.

Medical professionals or students will find an abundance of high-paying occupations in the state, from radiologists to podiatrists.

Do you live in Massachusetts or want to live there? Here's what you need to know about the state's top industries, companies and occupations.

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What Are the Main Industries in Massachusetts?

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Massachusetts is a state filled with great job opportunities, mainly in the education and medical sectors. Other top industries based on revenue include drug, cosmetic and toiletry wholesaling, and biotechnology.

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Mass. Bureaucracy vs. U.S. Government Bureaucracy

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Mass. Bureaucracy vs. U.S. Government Bureaucracy

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A difference between Massachusetts and U.S. bureaucracy is...

Funding:

U.S.- The federal government is able to levy taxes and give money to the states according to different plans and formulae.

Massachusetts- To pay for its operations and services, the state government depends on taxes and other state-level income.

Sources:

CRS Reports "Introduction to the Federal Budget Process"- https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46240#:~:text=Under%20the%20U.S.%20Constitution%2C%20Congress,under%20Article%20I%2C%20Section%208.

Fiscal Data.treasurey.gov " How much has the U.S. government spent this year?"- https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/#:~:text=Visit%20the%20national%20deficit%20explainer,construction%2C%20research%2C%20and%20education.

NASRA "State and Local Revenue"- https://www.nasra.org/revenue#:~:text=State%20and%20local%20governments%20collect,%2C%20sales%2C%20and%20property%20taxes.

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1) MassHealth- $18.56 billion

2) The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education- just above $5 billion

3) Department of Higher Education- $937.7 million

4) Department of Public Health- $651,290,860

5) Massachusetts Department of Transportation- $616,647,824

(Sources: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education "Finance and Funding" https://www.doe.mass.edu/financefunding.html#:~:text=The%20Department%20of%20Elementary%20and,aid%2C%20and%20special%20education%20reimbursements)

The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts "Senate Ways and Mean Budget" https://malegislature.gov/Budget/FY2023/SenateWaysMeansBudget/Executive_Summary#:~:text=The%20Committee%E2%80%99s%20budget%20funds%20MassHealth,to%20comprehensive%20health%20care%20coverage)

Massachusetts Department of Higher Education "Governor Baker Signs Final FY23 Budget" https://www.mass.edu/bhe/budget_final.asp#:~:text=The%20DHE%2C%20community%20colleges%2C%20and,%25)%20increase%20from%20FY22%20GAA)

Massachusetts Summary Budget "Massachusetts Department of Transportation" https://budget.digital.mass.gov/summary/fy20/enacted/transportation/?tab=budget-summary)

Massachusetts Governor's Budget "Department of Public Health" https://budget.digital.mass.gov/govbudget/fy20/appropriations/health-and-human-services/public-health/

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The Conference Committee released its FY23 budget for the Department of Higher Education (DHE) as well as the base appropriations for the Community Colleges and the State Universities on Sunday, July 17, 2022. The Governor signed the bill with vetoes, which did not effect DHE appropriations, on July 27th. The DHE, community colleges, and state universities portion of the budget totals for FY23 are $937.7M, which is a $119.3M (15.2%) increase from FY22 GAA.

Similar to the FY23 BHE and Governor's budget recommendations, the Conference Committee budget included funding for an additional increase in aid to students through the DHE's scholarship programs. Other significant investments were made in the Higher Education Endowment Incentive Program as well as the Department's Early College Programs through its Commonwealth Dual Enrollment and MA State Scholarship line item.

Regarding the Department's appropriations

Overall, the Conference Committee budget for the DHE's accounts total $257.9M, an $81.2M (45.9%) increase over the FY22 GAA.

The Massachusetts State Scholarship account received a net increase of $44.7M from GAA. This is comprised of an increase of $35.7M in funding for MassGrants, $1.4M increase to the Early Childhood Educators Scholarship, as well as maintenance increases for payroll and other administrative items.

The budget funds the FY23 Foster and Adopted Fee Assistance account at $7.3M, which is level with FY22 GAA and the budget recommendations from both the Governor and the Board. This reflects the ongoing commitment to ensure the Commonwealth is meeting its statutory obligation to this vulnerable population. Similarly, the Foster Child Grant program was also level funded.

Student Success Initiatives

The Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Program received a $3M increase, 50.0% over GAA, this increase is intended to expand the Department's early college pathways programs. This increase would bring total funding for Early College from this line item to $9M annually, which is a 350% increase over the FY20 GAA funding.

The budget increased the funding for the SUCCESS line item by $3.5M (33.3%) over FY22 GAA.

While the funding in the Main Administration account appears to have increased by $6.8M, this is mainly the effect of the addition of numerous earmarks such as JET, TRAIN, and student support program at Quincy College. The funding for the Department's on-going operations received maintenance increases.

Outside Section 9 officially authorizes the Board of Higher Education to administer 403(b) retirement plans. DHE has been advocating for this change for many years.

The GAA also reestablished the Higher Education Endowment Incentive Program and funded it at $20M.

Conference Committee also established Mental Health Services Program and funded it at $4.3M.

Conference Committee increased the MAICEI line item by $4M when comparing to FY22 GAA.

Conference Committee also recommended an increase to the State Universities and Community College Funding Formulas to 3% of state funding.

Conference Committee level funded PIF. Conference Committee kept all prior appropriation continued and "summer months" spending language for all accounts that had it in FY22 GAA.

Level funding was recommended for NEBHE, STEM Starter, the Colleges Health & Welfare Fund, PACE, PIF, Community College Workforce Grants, and Bridges to College (eliminated $50k earmark).

Next Steps

The final budget, also known as the General Appropriations Act (GAA), went into effect on July 1, 2022 when the 2023 Fiscal Year began. The FY23 budget process for the Department of Higher Education, community colleges, state universities, and UMass system will resume again in December 2022, when the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education issues its funding recommendations to the Executive Office of Education.

July 2023
Final FY24 Budget

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Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

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The budget features increased funding for financial aid, and $10.5 million for the Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services (SUCCESS) grants to community colleges

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Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard; Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC

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Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard; Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC

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Affirmative action critic Edward Blum, leader of the Students for Fair Admissions sued both Harvard and UNC and requested that the Supreme court overrule its prior decisions of the considerations of race as part of a college admissions process in order to achieve a diverse student body violates the Equal Protection Clause.

Ruling:

In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard the supreme court rulings restricting race as a factor for creating diversity within the student body and overturning almost fifty years of tradition that allowed for the minimal assessment of race in that context. By facilitating integration on college campuses, reducing stereotypes, and enhancing the participation of all students of all races in the academic community, the consideration of race in college admissions advances the ideals of equal protection.

(Source: ACLU "Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard; Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC" https://www.aclu.org/cases/students-for-fair-admissions-v-harvard-students-for-fair-admissions-v-unc)

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Students for Fair Admissions, led by long-time affirmative action critic Edward Blum, sued both Harvard and UNC, and ask the Supreme Court to overrule its prior decisions and hold that the consideration of race as part of a holistic college admissions process in order to achieve a diverse student body violates the Equal Protection Clause.

The ACLU filed an amicus brief urging the Court to uphold its prior precedent, and reaffirm that diversity is a "compelling governmental interest," and that the modest consideration of race as one factor among many in admissions is narrowly tailored to achieve that end. The ACLU argues that a holistic, race-conscious admissions process to achieve diversity should be assessed as an exercise of the university's academic freedom to assemble a student body that in it is judgment best advances learning. Additionally, the consideration of race in college admissions furthers the values of equal protection by helping to diminish stereotypes, promoting integration on college campuses, and improving the ability of students of all races to participate in the academic community.

The brief was filed on behalf of the ACLU, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and the ACLU of North Carolina.

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court issued rulings in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC restricting schools' ability to use race as a factor in fostering diversity in their student bodies, overruling nearly fifty years of precedent permitting modest consideration of race for that purpose.

The court, however, stated that schools could consider essays from applicants discussing how their race is relevant to factors relevant to admission, such as overcoming discrimination and prejudice.

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Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard; Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC | American Civil Liberties Union

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This lawsuit contends that the consideration of race as an affirmative action measure in admissions at Harvard and at UNC constitutes racial discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

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On June 22, 2022 former Governor Charlie Baker signed an election reform bill into law. This reform bill made several pandemic related election revisions permanent. Some of these changes are lengthening the voter registration deadline from 20 days before the election to just 10 days. The bill unfortunately did not include same day voter registration. This bill also implemented mail-in ballots for presidential, state, and municipal elections. However, municipalities are permitted to opt-out of mail-ins as long as the election date does not occur on the same day as a state or federal election. On March 3, 2023 Governor Baker sing the "VOTES ACT," aka "an act fostering voting opportunities, trust, equity, and security" into law. This act is said to be "the largest expansion of voting access in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in years" (Common Cause Massachusetts). The VOTES ACT allows voters to vote by mail without having to provide a specific reason, expands early voting options, ensures that incarcerated but eligible voters are able to request a mail ballot to vote, and adds Massachusetts to the Electronic Registration Information Center in order to maintain up to date registration rolls. (Sources: Massachusetts Municipal Association "Governor signs voting and election reform bill" https://www.mma.org/gov-baker-signs-voting-and-election-law/) Common Cause Massachusetts "VOTES ACT Becomes Law in Massachusetts" https://www.commoncause.org/massachusetts/democracy-wire/votes-act-becomes-law-in-massachusetts/)

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On June 22, Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law an election reform bill that makes many pandemic-related election changes permanent, expanding some voting opportunities in time for the next statewide election in September.

The new law changes the voter registration deadline from 20 days before an election to 10 days. The final bill (S. 2924) did not include same-day voter registration, a sticking point between the House and Senate in earlier versions of the bills.

The law allows mail-in ballots for presidential, state and municipal elections, while allowing municipalities to opt out of mail-in voting for elections that are not held on the same day as a state or federal election. Municipalities could, however, allow in-person early voting for those elections if they choose.

While these provisions take effect 30 days after the bill is signed into law - in time for the state's Sept. 6 primary election - the law includes some provisions that would not go into effect until January 2023. These include automatic voter registration, and expanded voting access procedures for incarcerated individuals.

The Senate passed an election reform bill, known as the VOTES Act, in October 2021, and the House passed its version of the VOTES Act in January. A House-Senate conference committee resolved differences between the two bills, and a compromise bill was approved in each branch in mid-June.

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Governor signs voting and election reform bill

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On June 22, Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law an election reform bill that makes many pandemic-related election changes permanent, expanding some voting opportunities in time for the next statewide election in September. The new law changes the voter registration deadline from 20 days before an election to 10 days.

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This campaign finance reform was signed into law by Charlie Baker on November 26, 2019. Although signed on in late 2019, it didn't take affect until 2020. The main change of how campaigns were previously financed is that House, Senate, and mayoral candidates in smaller cities must now file campaign finance reports in the depository bank reporting system. In place of 4-5 reports filed throughout a two year election cycle, reports will be filed monthly by candidates' banks and the candidates themselves will also file deposit reports. The OCPF (Office of Campaign and Political Finance) will then combine the two reports using specialized software. A depository system requires candidates to file reports that identity contributors, whereas banks must file reports that itemize expenditures and give a summary of receipts for the month. The OPCF has been given the task of establishing regulations regarding the use of social media by appointed public employees. The OPCF supported these reforms because they feel "it is the best system for frequent and accurate campaign finance disclosure" as it's a third party bank that verifies candidates' campaign finance activity (Sullivan). Massachusetts became the first US state to require independent, third party reporting of campaign finance activity by candidates!

(Source: Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance "Legislative, mayoral candidates will file in depository system" chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ocpf2.blob.core.windows.net/pdf/newsletters/2019newlegislation.pdf)

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John Adams Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts

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Massachusetts state courts have three tiers. Massachusetts Supreme Court is the highest appellate court which means it is the court used as a last resort. This tier has the final decision. The second tier is the Court of Appeals which functions as an intermediate appellate court that is responsible for assessing cases allotted to them by the Supreme Court. The third tier of courts are called trial level courts. They have both unique and overlapping jurisdiction over various case types. The Massachusetts Probation Service provides rehabilitation tools to offenders on probation and the Office of Jury Commissioner supply pools of jurors that are randomly selected to each state court.

(Source: Massachusetts Court Records Public Access "Massachusetts Court Records" https://massachusettscourtrecords.us/criminal-court-records/federal-and-state/)

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It was estimated that around 89% of Massachusettans worried about their daily finances because of inflation. As the year progress and everyone become more acclimated to the rising prices, the fear slightly subsided, but the vast majority still worry. In regard to politics, 22% of registered voters claim the issues of the economy will strongly impact who they vote for, and the other 57% will consider it when voting. Overall, inflation and the economy weighs heavily in the minds of residents across Massachusetts. A poll created by the Financial Times discovered that 76% of Americans believe that the economy is in a bad standing and another poll states that 74% of Americans worried greatly about the rising food prices.

(Sources: Mass Live "Inflation worries Mass. residents, but recession fears fade: MassMutual survey" https://www.masslive.com/business/2023/09/inflation-worries-mass-residents-but-recession-fears-fade-massmutual-survey.html and The Harvard Gazette "Economists explain why Americans feel inflation, economy are much, much worse than they actually are" https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/11/why-americans-feel-inflation-economy-are-much-worse-than-they-are/)

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Federal courts handle cases that involve inter-state relations, which demand more in depth investigations/resources than state or local governments have access to. Federal courts deal with cases that violate federal laws. Agencies in charge of investigations in federal court cases are the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Some examples of federal crimes are hacking and e-mail fraud, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, identity theft, and money laundering. Massachusetts courts have authority over misdemeanors and felonies that go against the Massachusetts Criminal Code. The Massachusetts state police are in charge of investigating intra-state crimes. Some examples of crimes the Massachusetts state courts attend to are homicide and murder, kidnapping, arson, theft/burglary, and simple/aggravated assault.

(Source: Massachusetts Court Records Public Access "Massachusetts Court Records" https://massachusettscourtrecords.us/criminal-court-records/federal-and-state/)

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Federal judges are appointed for life by the president of the United States and are confirmed by congress, while Massachusetts state judges are appointed by the governor and are approved of by the Governor's Council.

(Source: Massachusetts Court Records Public Access "Massachusetts Court Records" https://massachusettscourtrecords.us/criminal-court-records/federal-and-state/)

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According to Mike Damiano from The Boston Globe, he remarked how attempts to cross the US border has hit a new record in the past two years. It's overwhelming and the nation is feeling it all around, including in Massachusetts. So much so, the government had to house new migrants in hotels because all shelters are filled to the brim. Massachusettans have mixed feelings, some see immigrants as a positive, but many feel the squeeze in their towns from the floods of immigrants. The majority of Massachusettans align with the views of majority of Americans because 41% of US citizens want to see a tighter border control and decrease in immigration.

(Sources: The Boston Globe "Influx of migrants in Massachusetts continues to overwhelm state resources-- and more may be on the way"

https://www.boston.com/news/the-boston-globe/2023/05/10/migrants-massachusetts-overwhelm-state-resources/ and Gallup "Immigration" https://news.gallup.com/poll/1660/immigration.aspx#:~:text=Americans'%20views%20on%20the%20level,and%2026%25%20want%20it%20increased.

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Massachusetts has the sixth strictest gun laws in the nation. One of the laws, "red flag orders" allows officers and/or family members to prevent someone from obtaining a weapon they know they might use to hurt themselves or others. With that being said, 51% of Massachusettans believe they do not need more gun control, but rather more education and training on how to properly use and store weapons. Also, educating the masses on laws already in place as it was found many were not even aware of the "red flag order." The majority believe if everyone is aware of the established laws, there will be not a lot of fear for safety and laws will not need to become even stricter. The other 49% admire the want to spread awareness, but does not see it being feasible and effective as new and stricter laws would be. According to Pew Research Center, they gathered that 58% of Americans support stricter gun control laws which is the opposite findings in Massachusetts.

(Sources: The Boston Globe "'Let's fix the problem': Readers weigh in on Mass. gun laws"

https://www.boston.com/community/readers-say/readers-weigh-in-on-mass-gun-laws/ and Pew Research Center "Key facts about Americans and guns" https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/#:~:text=About%20six%2Din%2Dten%20U.S.,favor%20less%20strict%20gun%20laws.)

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With the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, there was a loud uproar from millions across the nation and even the world. Some states adopted stricter laws making an abortion a federal crime while some keeping it legal well into 20 weeks. Massachusetts falls into the latter with its open laws regarding abortion procedures since 74% believe abortion should be accessible for all/most cases which is also what the majority of Americans believe as well. Pew Research Center found that 61% think that abortion should be legal in all or majority of cases.

(Sources: Pew Research Center "Views about abortion among adults in Massachusetts" https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/state/massachusetts/views-about-abortion/

Pew Research Center "About six-in-ten Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases" https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/06/13/about-six-in-ten-americans-say-abortion-should-be-legal-in-all-or-most-cases-2/)

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Partisan makeup of the Massachusetts population

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Partisan makeup of the Massachusetts population

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Currently, there are three different parties in Massachusetts. Those being, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Libertarian Party. As of Pew Research Center, 56% of Mass. residents identify as Democrats and 27% of residents identify as Republicans. The percentage of libertarians in Massachusetts is unknown.

(Sources: Pew Research Center "Party affiliation among adults in Massachusetts" Party affiliation among adults in Massachusetts - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics | Pew Research Center

Libertarian Association of Massachusetts "About" Libertarian Association of Massachusetts (lpmass.org)

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Which party controls the state government?

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Which party controls the state government?

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The Democratic party has an overwhelming amount of control over the Massachusetts government. It's senate, house and governor are all under democratic control.

(Source: Ballotpedia "Party control of Massachusetts state government" Party control of Massachusetts state government - Ballotpedia)

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How has the party makeup and control changed in recent years? 

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How has the party makeup and control changed in recent years? 

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Democrats had taken up the house and senate since 92', but as for the governor position, the pattern has been republicans for the most part dominating that position also since 92'. Things have taken a turn and now after a long run of republicans taking the title as governor, a democrat, Maura Healey, holds that position. She's the first democrat to obtain that position since the years 2007-2014.

(Sources: Ballotpedia "Party control of Massachusetts state government" Party control of Massachusetts state government - Ballotpedia

World Population Review "Most Libertarian States 2023" https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/most-libertarian-states)

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Does Massachusetts protect certain liberties more than the federal law requires?

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Does Massachusetts protect certain liberties more than the federal law requires?

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Massachusetts is one of the fifty states to be known for taking quick action when it comes to protecting civil liberties. Sometimes they even provided more extensive protections than what is required of them by federal law. For example, the states of Florida and Texas have been clearly against LGBTQ+ rights and have signed a series of bills that target to restrict/discriminate against people in this community from having certain rights. However, unlike these two states, Massachusetts has a long history of being at the forefront of issues like LGBTQ+ rights and access to healthcare. The ACLU of Massachusetts, a non-profit organization, constantly works towards forwarding progress and preserving civil rights and liberties of the Massachusetts people. It has made significant efforts in fighting for the rights of women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community. These just name a few groups that they help protect. Since January 5, 2023, Maura Healey, became Massachusetts very first woman and openly lesbian governor.

(Sources: ADVOCATE "7 Florida Bills That Threaten LGBTQ+ Rights Right Now"

7 Florida Bills That Threaten LGBTQ+ Rights Right Now (advocate.com)

KXAN Austin "From bathroom bills to trans health care, how Texas lawmakers shifted LGBTQ+ focus since 2015"

From bathroom bills to trans health care, how Texas lawmakers shifted LGBTQ+ focus since 2015 | KXAN Austin

Massachusetts Public Health Association "2023-2024 Policy Priorities"

2023 – 2024 Policy Priorities | Massachusetts Public Health Association (mapublichealth.org)

Health Action Massachusetts "2023/2024 Bills"

2023/2024 BILLS – Health Action Massachusetts

Patient Engagement Hit "Mass. Law Expand Nurses Scope of Practice, Patient Access to Care"

Mass. Law Expands Nurse Scope of Practice, Patient Access to Care (patientengagementhit.com)

ACLU "Civil Liberties"

Civil Liberties | American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org)

NPR "Maura Healey claims historic victory, elected first woman governor in Massachusetts"

Maura Healey is the first woman governor to lead Massachusetts : NPR)

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Goodridge v. The Department of Public Health

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Goodridge v. The Department of Public Health

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In 2003, seven same-sex couples filed a case against the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, who refused to give them marriage licenses. The plaintiffs argued that the rejection of marriage licenses to same-sex couples breaches the constitution of Massachusetts. The ruling decision was in favor of the plaintiffs and legalized the marriage for same-sex couples. This was a very important step towards broadening the rights of lesbian and gay people, and for also Massachusetts by playing a role in advancing marriage rights to be more inclusive.

(Source: Legal Dictionary "Goodridge V. Department of Public Health" https://legaldictionary.net/goodridge-v-department-public-health/)

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On February 20, 1905, a pastor in Cambridge, Massachusetts would not get the mandatory smallpox vaccination. He claimed that he and his son had experienced poor reactions to previous vaccinations and that being forced to get this vaccination violated his religious liberty rights. The courts ultimately ruled in favor of Massachusetts, since it was seen that Massachusetts had the right to mandate the smallpox vaccination in the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the public. The restriction of individual liberty in this case was constitutionally fair and Massachusetts reasonably acted within its police power. (Source: Free Speech Center "Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905)" Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu))

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In this year alone, the US has seen a wave of migrants like never before. However, Massachusetts was one of the states hit the hardest as many come via Cape Cod. Massachusetts already struggles with housing the homeless so, the governor warns new migrants to not come to Massachusetts as there are quite literally no more shelters to house them plus the 23,000+ current occupants. The governor also urges for more aid hoping to alleviate the current crisis which probably explains why they received so much federal funding this year.

(Source: Politico "Massachusetts governor warns state is running out of room to house migrants"

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/16/massachusetts-governor-migrants-healey-00121756)

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Current Massachusetts governor: Maura Healey

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Being the governor of Massachusetts means that you are the chief executive officer of their government, the head of their state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. The governor holds the power to veto and performs ceremonial duties and upholds political responsibilities like signing bills into laws.

(Source: National Governors Association "Powers and Authority"

https://www.nga.org/governors/powers-and-authority/

Wikipedia "Governor of Massachusetts"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Massachusetts)

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Massachusetts governor vs. the US president

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Massachusetts governor vs. the US president

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Both the president and the Massachusetts governor have the power to veto, but the president does have more authority over a multitude of aspects that the Mass. governor does not. For example, the president has the right to appoint supreme court justices and federal judges. The governor of Massachusetts does not have this jurisdiction nor the jurisdiction to issue executive orders unlike the president.

(Source: National Governors Association "Powers and Authority"

https://www.nga.org/governors/powers-and-authority/

Wikipedia "Governor of Massachusetts"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Massachusetts

Wikipedia "Powers of the president of the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_the_president_of_the_United_States)

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The governor of Massachusetts, officially the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the chief executive of the Government of Massachusetts and serves as commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces.

Massachusetts has a republican system of government, akin to a presidential system, where the governor acts as the head of government while having a distinct role from that of the legislative branch. The governor has far reaching political obligations ranging from ceremonial to political. While being the chief representative of Massachusetts as a U.S. State, the governor also is in charge of the cabinet, signs bills into law, and has veto power. The governor is also a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council, a popularly elected council with eight members who provide advice and consent on certain legal matters and appointments.

Beginning with the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629, the role of Governor has changed throughout its history in terms of powers and selection. The modern form of the position was created in the 1780 constitution, which called for the position of a "supreme executive magistrate".

Governors are elected every four years during state elections on the first Tuesday of November after the 1st, the most recent being in 2018. Elected governors are then inaugurated on the first Thursday of the following January after the 1st. There are no term limits restricting how long a governor may serve.

The current governor is Charlie Baker.

Any person seeking to become Governor of Massachusetts must meet the following requirements:

Be at least eighteen years of age

Be a registered voter in Massachusetts

Be a Massachusetts resident for at least seven years when elected

Receive 10,000 signatures from registered voters on nomination papers

The role of Governor has existed in Massachusetts since the Royal Charter of 1628. The original role of the governor was one of a president of the board of a joint-stock company, namely the Massachusetts Bay Company. The governor would be elected by freemen, who were shareholders of the company. These shareholders were mostly colonists themselves who fit certain religious requirements. The governor acted in a vice-regal manner, overseeing the governance and functioning of the colony. Originally they were supposed to reside in London, as was the case with other colonial company governors, although this protocol was broken when John Winthrop was appointed Governor. The governor served as the executive of the colony, originally elected annually, they were joined by a Council of Assistants. This council was a group of magistrates who performed judicial functions, acted as an upper house of the General Court, and provided advice and consent to the governor. The early governors of Massachusetts Bay were staunchly Puritan colonists who wished to form a state that coincided with religious law.

With the founding of the Dominion of New England, the New England colonies were combined with the Province of New York, Province of West Jersey, and the Province of East Jersey. During this period (1686-1689) Massachusetts had no governor of its own. Instead there existed a royally appointed governor who resided in Boston and served at the King's pleasure. Though there existed a council which served as a quasi-legislature, however the logistics of calling the council to meet were so arduous that the Dominion was essentially governed by the Crown through the Royal Governor. The reason for the creation of such a post was there existed tremendous hostility between the Kingdom of England and the colonists of Massachusetts Bay. In an effort to bring the colonies under tighter control the Crown dismantled the old assembly system and created the Viceroy system based on the Spanish model in New Spain. This model of government was greatly disliked by the colonists all throughout British North America but especially in New England where colonists at one time did have some semblance of democratic and local control. With the Glorious Revolution and the Boston Revolt the Dominion was abolished in 1689.

With the creation of the Massachusetts Charter in 1691, the role of civilian governor was restored in Massachusetts Bay. Now the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the colony then encompassed the territory of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, and areas of what is now the state of Maine. The governor however would not be chosen by the electorate, instead the position would remain a royal appointment. In order to ease tensions with royal authorities and the colonists the General Court was reestablished and given significant powers. This created acrimony between the governors and the assembly of the General Court. The governor could veto any decision made by the assembly and had control over the militia, however the General Court had authority of the treasury and provincial finances. This meant that in the event the governor did not agree with or consent with the rulings and laws of the General Court then the assembly would threaten to withhold any pay for the governor and other Royal Officers.

From 1765 on the unraveling of the Province into a full political crisis only increased the tensions between the governor and the people of Massachusetts Bay. Following the passage of the Stamp Act Governor Thomas Hutchinson had his home broken into and ransacked. The early stages of the American Revolution saw political turmoil in Massachusetts Bay. With the passage of the Intolerable Acts the then Royal Governor Thomas Gage dissolved the General Court and began to govern the province by decree. In 1774 the Massachusetts Provincial Congress was formed as an alternative revolutionary government to the royal government in Boston. With Massachusetts Bay declaring its independence in May 1776 the role of Governor was vacant for four years. The executive role during this time was filled by the Governor's Council, the Committee of Safety, and the president of the Congress when in session.

With the adoption of the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780 the role of an elected civilian governor was restored. John Hancock was elected as the first governor of the independent commonwealth on October 25, 1780.

Part the Second, Chapter II, Section I, Article I of the Massachusetts Constitution reads,

There shall be a supreme executive magistrate, who shall be styled, The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and whose title shall be - His Excellency.

The governor also serves as commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's armed forces.

According to the Massachusetts State Constitution:

Whenever the chair of the governor shall be vacant, by reason of his death, or absence from the commonwealth, or otherwise, the lieutenant governor, for the time being, shall, during such vacancy, perform all the duties incumbent upon the governor, and shall have and exercise all the powers and authorities, which by this constitution the governor is vested with, when personally present.

The Constitution does not use the term "acting governor," but the practice in Massachusetts has been that the lieutenant governor retains his or her position and title as "lieutenant governor" and becomes acting governor, not governor. The lieutenant governor, when acting as governor, is referred to as "the lieutenant-governor, acting governor" in official documents.

Despite this terminology, the Massachusetts courts have found that the full authority of the office of the governor devolves to the lieutenant governor upon vacancy in the office of governor, and that there is no circumstance short of death, resignation, or impeachment that would relieve the acting governor from the full gubernatorial responsibilities.[citation needed ]

The first use of the succession provision occurred in 1785, five years after the constitution's adoption, when Governor John Hancock resigned the post, leaving Lieutenant Governor Thomas Cushing as acting governor. Most recently, Jane Swift became acting governor upon the resignation of Paul Cellucci.

When the constitution was first adopted, the Governor's Council was charged with acting as governor in the event that both the governorship and lieutenant governorship were vacant. This occurred in 1799 when Governor Increase Sumner died in office on June 7, 1799, leaving Lieutenant Governor Moses Gill as acting governor. Acting Governor Gill never received a lieutenant and died on May 20, 1800, between that year's election and the inauguration of Governor-elect Caleb Strong. The Governor's Council served as the executive for ten days; the council's chair, Thomas Dawes was at no point named governor or acting governor.

Article LV of the Constitution, enacted in 1918, created a new line of succession:

The governor has a 10-person cabinet, each of whom oversees a portion of the government under direct administration (as opposed to independent executive agencies). See Government of Massachusetts for a complete listing.

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

Incoming governors usually choose at least one past governor's portrait to hang in their office.

Immediately before being sworn into office, the governor-elect receives four symbols from the departing governor: the ceremonial pewter "Key" for the governor's office door, the Butler Bible, the "Gavel", and a two-volume set of the Massachusetts General Statutes with a personal note from the departing governor to his/her successor added to the back of the text. The governor-elect is then escorted by the sergeant-at-arms to the House Chamber and sworn in by the senate president before a joint session of the House and Senate.

Upon completion of their term, the departing governor takes a "lone walk" down the Grand Staircase, through the House of Flags, into Doric Hall, out the central doors, and down the steps of the Massachusetts State House. The governor then crosses the street into Boston Common, thereby symbolically rejoining the commonwealth as a private citizen. Benjamin Butler started the tradition in 1884. Some walks have been modified with some past governors having their wives, friends, or staff accompany them. A 19-gun salute is offered during the walk, and frequently the steps are lined by the outgoing governor's friends and supporters.

Governor's residence

Despite several proposals for establishing an official residence for the governor of Massachusetts, including the Endicott Estate which was once acquired for the purpose, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not have a governor's mansion.

Prior to their early-20th century demolitions, the Province House and the Hancock Manor were also proposed as official residences.

Since the governor has no official residence, the expression "corner office," rather than "governor's mansion," is commonly used in the press as a metonym for the office of governor. This refers instead to the governor's office on the third floor of the State House.

Since 1780, 65 people have been elected governor, six to non-consecutive terms ( John Hancock, Caleb Strong, Marcus Morton, John Davis, John Volpe, and Michael Dukakis), and seven lieutenant governors have acted as governor without subsequently being elected governor. Thomas Talbot served a stint as acting governor, but later was elected governor several years later. Prior to 1918 constitutional reforms, both the governor's office and that of lieutenant governor were vacant on one occasion, when the state was governed by the Governor's Council.

The colonial history of Massachusetts begins with the founding first of the Plymouth Colony in 1620, and then the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1628. The Dominion of New England combined these and other New England colonies into a single unit in 1686, but collapsed in 1689. In 1692 the Province of Massachusetts Bay was established, merging Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, which then included the territory of present-day Maine.

Colonial governors of Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony were elected annually by a limited subset of the male population (known as freemen), while Dominion officials and those of the 1692 province were appointed by the British crown. In 1774 General Thomas Gage became the last royally appointed governor of Massachusetts. He was recalled to England after the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, by which time the Massachusetts Provincial Congress exercised de facto control of Massachusetts territory outside British-occupied Boston. Between 1775 and the establishment of the Massachusetts State Constitution in 1780 the state was governed by the provincial congress and an executive council.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts: 1780-present

In the table below, acting governors are denoted in the leftmost column by the letter "A", and are not counted as actual governors. The longest-serving governor was Michael Dukakis, who served twelve years in office, although they were not all consecutive. The longest period of uninterrupted service by any governor was nine years, by Levi Lincoln Jr. The shortest service period by an elected governor was one year, achieved by several 19th century governors. Increase Sumner, elected by a landslide to a third consecutive term in 1799, was on his deathbed and died not long after taking the oath of office; this represents the shortest part of an individual term served by a governor. Sumner was one of four governors to die in office; seven governors resigned, most of them to assume another office.

This is a table of notable government offices held by governors. All representatives and senators mentioned represented Massachusetts, except otherwise noted.

As of November 2018, there are five former governors or acting governors of Massachusetts who are still alive, the oldest being Michael Dukakis (served 1975-1979 and 1983-1991, born 1933). The most recent governor of Massachusetts to have died was Paul Cellucci (served 1997-1999 [acting] and 1999-2001, born 1948), on June 8, 2013.

Lincoln, William (ed) (1838). Journals of each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775 and of the Committee of Safety, with an Appendix containing the Proceedings of the County Conventions_Narratives of the Events of the Nineteenth of April, 1775-Paper relating to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and other documents. Dutton and Wentworth, Printers to the State.

Hart, Albert Bushnell (ed) (1927). Commonwealth History of Massachusetts. New York: The States History Company. OCLC 1543273. (five volume history of Massachusetts until the early 20th century; volume 3 deals with the provisional period and post-independence history until 1820)

Morison, Samuel (1917). A History of the Constitution of Massachusetts. Harvard University Library: Wright & Potter Printing Co.

Truslow Adams, James (1913). The Founding of New England. Stanford University Library: Atlantic Monthly Press.

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The governor of Massachusetts, officially the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the chief executive of the Government of Massachusetts and serves as commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts has a republican system of government, akin to a presidential system, where the governor acts as the head of government while having a distinct role from that of the legislative branch.

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Two Massachusettsans named Han Lee and Junmyung Lee with a Californian named James Lee were the main operators of a high-end brothel in Massachusetts and D.C. The operation was incredibly undercover as there were many contracts required to have been signed by both buyers and prostitutes to protect each other's identity. The Justice Department found that many of the customers were politicians, doctors, military officers, wealthy tech and pharmaceutical executives, government contractors, lawyers, scientists, accountants, and even professors.

(Source: Politico "Feds charge 3 with running high-end brothels allegedly frequented by politicians"

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/08/feds-brothel-investigation-politicians-00126153)

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The governor of Massachusetts recently signed a bill making phone calls free for inmates across their 14 prisons and jailhouses in the state. The Massachusetts Department of Corrections understands the importance of those phone calls and how vital they are for their inmates so they worked tirelessly for this to happen and it has been in effective since December 1st. The DOC is also working on figuring out how calls can be made via tablets to add to their various opportunities for inmates to stay in contact with their loved ones besides in-person visits, writing letters, and messaging electronically.

(Source: Politico "Prison phone calls are now free in Mass."

https://www.masslive.com/politics/2023/12/prison-phone-calls-are-now-free-in-mass.html)

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The beginning of the Massachusetts' colony

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The beginning of the Massachusetts' colony

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The Massachusetts Bay colony, established in 1628, was the second colony of the US and was founded by Puritans who were escaping persecution. They were religious reformers that desired to 'purify' the Anglican Church because they were against its rules and rituals.

This colony was also the most successful New England colony. Some reasons for this were: robust governance under Governor Winthrop, its economic expansion via trade and agriculture, its clean drinking water supply, and its diversity of crops.

(Sources: World History Encyclopedia "Massachusetts Bay Colony"

https://www.worldhistory.org/massachusetts-bay-colony/

https://historyofmassachusetts.org/historyof-the-massachusetts-bay-colony/ and NCCJBoston "The Success of The Massachusetts Bay Colony"

www.nccjboston.org/what-made-the-massachusetts-bay-colony-successful)

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Massachusetts declaring independence from Britain 

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Massachusetts declaring independence from Britain 

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Britain needed to raise money because of its debt following the Seven Years' War. As a result, they began raising taxes on the colonies in New England, which only exacerbated tensions between them and the colonists. To name some key events...The British Parliament attempted to pay off their war debt from the French and Indian War, so the Stamp Act of 1765 came to be. It mandated that any and all printed materials in the colonies be produced on paper bearing an official revenue stamp. This would generate revenue for the British Parliament but stirred up a lot of anger and discontentment with the colonists as they felt that the act's involuntary taxation of them as English citizens was a violation of their rights. "No taxation without representation". Not only was there the stamp act but also the sugar act, the quartering act, the declaratory act and the Townshend acts that added to the buildup of their deep hatred and despise towards the British. On March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, there was a violent incident known as the Boston Massacre. A lone British soldier and American colonist got into a verbal fight on the street. As things started to get heated the fight became physical and the soldier hit the colonist on the side of his head with his musket. This fight gathered attention and more colonists joined in and the lone soldier had gotten some backup when raging colonists started throwing objects like rocks. Quickly the situation turned into a chaotic and brutal massacre. This was a pivotal moment in history that would set the stage for the American Revolution. As tensions grew even stronger, the British once again introduced another act called the tea act. This was an effort to help save the British east India tea company from a financial crisis. Even though this act brought taxes on tea down, it did however hurt tea suppliers within the colonies. In retaliation of this act, colonists stopped purchasing from the British tea company and instead smuggled tea from other sources. They were making a blatant statement that could not be ignored. A group of patriot revolutionaries, who called themselves the Sons of Liberty, strategized plans to sabotage the British's efforts to control the colonies. On the night of December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Native Americans and climbed into the British ships that were sitting in a port in Boston, filled with tea that was supposed to be unloaded. The members dumped barrels of tea overboard for hours and destroyed the supply. the British parliament and king George iii were infuriated and in turn enacted the coercive acts (the intolerable acts). This suffocated the colonists even more so than ever before. The Boston port was closed off from trade and supplies until the damage of the tea was repaid, people had to house British soldiers and town meeting were restricted. Colonists had enough, so all across the American colonies people were dumping British tea into the harbors and only a few years later The American Revolutionary war would begin.

(Sources: National Park Service "Britain Begins Taxing the Colonies: The Sugar & Stamp Acts"

Britain Begins Taxing the Colonies: The Sugar & Stamp Acts (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Thoughtco. "The History of British Taxation in the American Colonies"

Why Britain Attempted to Tax the American Colonies (thoughtco.com)

HISTORY "Stamp Act"

What Was the Stamp Act? - History of Massachusetts Blog

Stamp Act - Fact, Reaction & Legacy | HISTORY

Pursuit of History "The Boston Massacre | Road to the Revolution"

The Boston Massacre | Road to the Revolution - YouTube

Pursuit of History "The Boston Tea Party | Road to the Revolution"

The Boston Tea Party | Road to the Revolution - YouTube)

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Footnotes

[1] In Harbottle Dorr Collection of Annotated Massachusetts Newspapers, 1765-1776, Vol. I, pp. 111, 114, https://www.masshist.org/dorr/.

[2] Jayne E. Triber, A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere (Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998), 41-42.

[3] Ed., Jack P. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 1763-1789: A Documentary History of the American Revolution (New York: W. W. Norton, 1975), 12-44; Edmund S. And Helen M. Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution (New York and London: Collier Macmillan, 1963), Chapter Five; I. R. Christie, Crisis of Empire: Great Britain and the American Colonies, 1754-1783 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1966), Chapter 3.

[4] Text of Stamp Act: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/stamp_act_1765.asp

[5] Boyle's Journal of Occurrences in Boston, 1759-1788, New England Historical and Genealogical Register Vol. 84 (April 1930), 148-149 (on Quebec and Montreal), 162 (on peace); Derek McKay and H. M. Scott, The Rise of the Great Powers, 1648-1815 (London and New York: Longman, 1983), 192-200; Christie, Crisis of Empire, Chapter Two.

[6] Revere's reminiscences of military service, fragment, second copy, April 27, 1816, Roll 3, Revere Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS); Triber, A True Republican, 21-25; Fred Anderson, A People's Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years' War (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1984), 1-12, 26-39, 168-180.

[7] McKay and Scott, The Rise of the Great Powers, pp. 197-200; Greene, Colonies to Nation, 12-14; Lawrence Henry Gipson, The Coming of the American Revolution, 1763-1775 (New York: Harper and Row, 1954), 55-57.

[8] Marc Egnal, A Mighty Empire: The Origins of the American Revolution (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1988), 126-135; Gary B. Nash, The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution (Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1979), 246-250.

[9] Nash, Urban Crucible, 250-263.

[10] Boyle's Journal of Occurrences, 84, 164.

[11] On the smallpox epidemic, see Christian Di Spigna, Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero (New York: Broadway Books, 2018), 62-66. Revere's income, in Waste Book and Memoranda, Vol. I, Roll 5, Revere Family Papers, MHS. See also, Triber, A True Republican, 37-41.

[12] Ed., William H. Whitmore, Report of the Record Commissioners of Boston, Boston Town Records, 1758-1769 (Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, 1886), 119-122 (quotes on p. 120, 121-122).

[13] Christie, Crisis of Empire, 39-46; John L. Bullion, "Security and Economy: The Bute Administration's Plans for the American Army and Revenue, 1762-1763, William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 45 (July 1988), 499-504.

[14] For at least two decades before Grenville's tax plan, Board of Trade records document colonial smuggling. See Christie, Crisis of Empire, 31-32, 39-46; Gipson, Coming of the American Revolution, 55-59; Thomas C. Barrow, "Background to the Grenville Program, 1757-1763," William and Mary Quarterly, V. 22, No. 1 (Jan. 1965), 93-104 (p. 95 on 1759 trade investigation); Don Cook, The Long Fuse: How England Lost the American Colonies, 1760-1785 (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995), 58.

[15] Gipson, Coming of the American Revolution, 22-27.

[16] Christie, Crisis of Empire, 46-48; Gipson, Coming of the American Revolution, 55-59. On the role of rum in the New England slave trade, see Jared Hardesty, Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England (Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2019), 26-28, and "The Slave Trade," Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS), African Americans and the End of Slavery.

[17] For full text of the Sugar Act, see https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/sugar_act_1764.asp. For more on the Sugar and Currency Acts, see Greene, Colonies to Nation,12-16, 25-26; Christie, Crisis of Empire, 46-48; Morgan and Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis, Chapter 3.

[18] Text of Sugar Act, relating to enforcement, starting with Article XX, in https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/sugar_act_1764.asp. See also, Greene, Colonies to Nation, 12-16; Christie, Crisis of Empire, 48-49; Morgan and Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis, 39-41.

[19] Harbottle Dorr Collection, Vol. I, p.5, https://www.masshist.org/dorr/.

[20] Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, in Greene, Colonies to Nation, 28-33; Arthur Savage, Jr., to Samuel Phillips Savage, February 8, 1765, S. P. Savage II Papers, MHS; Triber, A True Republican, 39-40.

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Britain Begins Taxing the Colonies: The Sugar & Stamp Acts (U.S. National Park Service)

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1] In Harbottle Dorr Collection of Annotated Massachusetts Newspapers, 1765-1776, Vol. I, pp. 111, 114, https://www.masshist.org/dorr/. [2] Jayne E. Triber, A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere (Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998), 41-42. [3] Ed., Jack P. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 1763-1789: A Documentary History of the American Revolution (New York: W.

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Before there was the US Constitution, the state of Massachusetts issued their own constitution, which was the 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It would later become a model for the formation of the constitution of the United States and was drafted by John Adams who would also become a significant writer for the US Constitution. In 1777, the legislature of Massachusetts publicized that a constitution for the US would be drafted and then would be sent on to voters for their approval, but the draft ended up being rejected in 1778. The following year, the Massachusetts legislature released an announcement calling on only male inhabitants in all towns to elect representatives in order to create a Convention that would efficiently fulfill the purpose for forming a new constitution. Massachusetts had then invented the Constitutional Convention, and for the very first time had formed and clearly defined the line between a regular piece of legislation and the foundational law that is essential in a constitution which can only be made and changed by "the people". Massachusetts had sent four delegates to the constitutional conventions, two of which had not signed the constitution. Those being, Elbridge Gerry and Caleb Strong. The other two delegates who did sign the constitution were Nathaniel Gorham and Rufus King. Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the US constitution on February 6, 1788.

(Sources: U.S. Constitution "Massachusetts Ratification"

Massachusetts's Ratification - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net and

Mass.gov "John Adams & the Massachusetts Constitution"

John Adams & the Massachusetts Constitution | Mass.gov

Meet the Framers of the Constitution | National Archives)

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Why Study the Massachusetts Constitution

The 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, drafted by John Adams, is the world's oldest functioning written constitution. It served as a model for the United States Constitution, which was written in 1787 and became effective in 1789. (The Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution were approved in 1789 and became effective in 1791). In turn, the United States Constitution has, particularly in years since World War II, served as a model for the constitutions of many nations, including Germany, Japan, India and South Africa. The United States Constitution has also influenced international agreements and charters, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In 1915, the President of the American Historical Association stated, "If I were called upon to select a single fact or enterprise which more nearly than any other single thing embraced the significance of the American Revolution . . . I should choose the formation of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. . . ."

John Adams and the Rule of Law

John Adams

The Writs of Assistance Case (1761)

Among the most profound influences on the young John Adams was his witnessing attorney James Otis arguing the Writs of Assistance case in 1761. This case would influence Adams years later when, in drafting the Massachusetts Constitution, he included a strong prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. That provision ensures that articulated and established rules are followed before private property may be searched or seized by government officials.

The Writs of Assistance case originated in 1760. Soon after George III ascended to the English throne, customs officials began aggressively to inspect ships, businesses, and homes for evidence of goods smuggled into Massachusetts by merchants seeking to avoid taxes. To conduct a search, customs officials needed only to obtain a "writ of assistance," a general search warrant that allowed them to search within any identified premises. The government was not required to make any showing of cause before obtaining a writ.

In February 1761, Otis represented a group of Massachusetts merchants who challenged the legality of the writs in a case brought before the Superior Court of Judicature. For five hours, Otis argued that the writs violated the inalienable rights of the colonists as British subjects: "A man's house is his castle; and whilst he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ, if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege."

Chief Justice Hutchinson delayed the Court's decision, likely hoping that public sentiment against the writs would subside. Though the Court did eventually uphold the writs, Adams believed that customs officials never "dared" to execute them. Otis's argument against arbitrary and excessive power influenced many, including 25-year-old John Adams, who later recalled, "Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there, the child Independence was born."

The Boston Massacre Case (1770)

The Boston Massacre case demonstrates John Adams's deep and abiding respect for a legal system based on the rule of law. For in this case, John Adams was requested to - and did - defend British soldiers who had fired into a mob of unruly colonists.

Events began on March 5, 1770, when tensions were high between the colonists and the armed British soldiers stationed in Boston. That evening, a dispute between a British sentry and a colonist led to the gathering of a disorderly crowd of colonists which, eventually, confronted Captain Thomas Preston and eight British soldiers.

When the volatile crowd refused orders to disperse and threw objects at the soldiers, the soldiers shot into the crowd, killing five colonists, including Crispus Attucks. Captain Preston and the soldiers were arrested.

The following day, John Adams was asked to defend Captain Preston and the soldiers from anticipated indictments. Adams agreed. Though committed to freedom from British tyranny, he believed that those accused deserved a proper defense. Adams's decision to defend the accused was particular noteworthy as other patriots, including his cousin Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, who invoked what they now named the "Boston Massacre" to inflame anti-British sentiments.

Captain Preston's trial was held first, from October 24-30, 1770. Adams's strategy was to challenge the prosecution's claim that Preston had ordered his soldiers to fire. Adams succeeded, and the jury acquitted Preston.

The subsequent trial of the eight soldiers was transcribed and published. After calling over forty witnesses, Adams gave an "electrifying" closing argument in which he argued that the soldiers had acted in self-defense when facing a mob. He further contended that because the evidence was unclear as to which soldiers had fired, it was better for the jury to acquit all eight defendants than mistakenly to convict one innocent man. "The reason is, because it's of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished."

The jury acquitted six soldiers and found two guilty of manslaughter; those two had been clearly proved to have fired shots.

For his role in the trials, Adams received serious public criticism and lost a substantial portion of his law practice. Later, he would write:

The part I took in defense of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me anxiety, and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. Judgement of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain upon this country as the executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the evidence was, the verdict of the jury was exactly right.

As reflected in observations of the Writs of Assistance case and his own role in the Boston Massacre trials, Adams had a passionate commitment to the rule of law and the right of all to fair proceedings. These passions would guide Adams as he developed and articulated his philosophy of a government based on laws not men.

In a brief essay entitled Thoughts on Government written during the early spring of 1776, John Adams articulated the central points of his philosophy of government. In formulating his vision, Adams relied on his vast reading of enlightenment political theory (e.g., Locke's Two Treatises of Government and Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws) and his study of ancient and modern history (e.g., Ancient Athens and Sparta, Republican and Imperial Rome, English and European history), as well as his firm belief that history had presented him and the other colonists with an unmatched opportunity to form their own governments as free and independent states.

You and I. . . have been sent into life at a time when the greatest lawgivers of antiquity would have wished to live. How few of the human race have ever enjoyed an opportunity of making an election of government, more than of air, soil, or climate, for themselves or their children! When, before the present epoch, had three millions of people full power and a fair opportunity to form and establish the wisest and happiest government that human wisdom can contrive?

Adams believed that a stable and democratic government required the consent of the governed and the separation of powers among the executive, legislature, and judiciary, and a bicameral (two-body) legislature. Of the necessity for an independent judiciary, Adams wrote:

The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon that. The judges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men. To these ends, they should hold estates for life in their offices; or, in other words, their commissions should be during good behavior, and their salaries ascertained and established by law.

The constitutional framework articulated in Thoughts on Government influenced the constitutions drafted in many of the colonies, including Massachusetts.

Adams's Resolution Authorizes the Colonies to Establish Legitimate and Independent Governments

Also in the spring of 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, responded to John Adams's insistence that if independence were to be declared, the colonies must establish legitimate and independent governments. On May 10, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted Adams's resolution (advanced with Richard Henry Lee of Virginia) recommending that each of the "united colonies" assume the powers of government and "adopt such a government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general."

When the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 2, 1776, this task became more urgent.

Massachusetts Invents the Constitutional Convention

In 1777, the Massachusetts legislature announced that the next legislature would draft a new constitution which it would then submit to the voters for approval. (At this time, John Adams was serving as a diplomat to France; Congress had appointed him to solidify this crucial alliance.)

In reaching its decision, the Massachusetts legislature failed to heed Adams's recommendation that constitutions ought to be drafted and ratified by special conventions representing the consent of the people. During the fall of 1775, Adams had recommended that the people must "erect the whole Building with their own hands upon the broadest foundation. That this could be done only by conventions of representatives chosen by the People. . . . "

The legislature's proposed constitution was submitted to, and rejected by, the voters in 1778. Theophilus Parsons, a young lawyer who would later became Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, led the opposition. In a pamphlet entitled The Essex Result, Parsons, in words demonstrating the influence of John Adams, criticized the proposed constitution for not having been drafted by a body separate from the legislature, for lacking a declaration of rights (and for explicitly condoning slavery), and for failing to provide for the separation of powers among the executive, a bicameral legislature, and the judiciary.

In 1779, the Massachusetts legislature issued a call to the towns for every male inhabitant to elect representatives to form a Convention for the sole purpose of framing a new Constitution, which would then require ratification by two-thirds of the same electorate. Massachusetts thereby invented the concept of convening a convention of the people, separate and apart from the legislature, for the sole purpose of creating a constitution. Massachusetts thus created and clarified the distinction between ordinary legislation and the fundamental law contained in a constitution, which may be created and changed only by "the people."

John Adams Drafts the Massachusetts Constitution

In August 1779, one week after he had returned from France to his home in Braintree, that town selected Adams as a delegate to the state constitutional convention, scheduled to meet on September 1.

The 312 delegates selected John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Bowdoin to serve on the drafting committee, and "the other two picked [John] Adams to draw up the state's constitution. He had become, as he later said, a sub-sub committee of one." In drafting the Massachusetts Constitution, Adams drew upon his vast knowledge of history and political philosophy, the colonies' experiences under British colonial rule, and his own ideas as articulated in Thoughts on Government. Adams completed his draft by October 30, 1779. He left Massachusetts in November 1779 to return to Europe as minister plenipotentiary.

Following approval by town meetings, the Constitution was ratified on June 15, 1780, and became effective on October 25, 1780.

The Massachusetts Constitution

The Massachusetts Constitution contains three parts: a Preamble, Part the First: A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Part the Second: The Frame of Government.

The Preamble

The Preamble announces the purposes of government; that is, furnishing the members of the body politic "the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquility, their natural rights and the blessings of life; describes the "body politic" as a "social compact" whereby all agree to be governed by laws designed for the "common good;" provides that when government does not fulfill its obligations, "the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity, and happiness."

The Declaration of Rights

The Declaration of Rights, which was in part derived from the Bill of Rights in several other state constitutions, sets forth many individual rights which would later be included in the federal Bill of Rights. John Adams considered individual rights so integral to the formation of government that the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights precedes the Frame of Government. (Contrast this with the United States Constitution which sets forth a frame of government, to which the Bill of Rights was added two years later, after prolonged debate.) The Declaration of Rights includes prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizure, ex post facto laws, and the public taking of private property without just compensation. Protected rights include freedom of the press, the right to petition the government, right to trial by jury, and freedom of worship.

The Declaration of Rights also established an independent judiciary. Adams knew that a free people and a stable government required judges "as free, impartial and independent as the lot of humanity will admit," who serve "as long as they behave themselves well" and whose salaries are "established by standing laws." Article XXIX brings to fruition arguments made by Adams in Thoughts on Government and in a series of argumentative essays written in 1773 between Adams and loyalist General William Brattle. In those essays, Adams contended that colonial judges, who served at the pleasure of the Crown, were "far from independent."

The Declaration of Rights concludes with an inspiring commitment to the creation of a balanced government of separate powers: a government of laws, not men:

In the government of the commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end that it may be a government of laws, and not of men. (Article XXX)

The Frame of Government

The Frame of Government establishes a government of separate powers comprised of three branches: an executive, a bicameral legislature, and an independent judiciary. The structural framework adopted in Massachusetts is identical to that adopted in the United States Constitution.'

Abigail Adams

Throughout their fifty-four year marriage, Abigail Adams was her husband's most trusted advisor on the subjects of family, career, and politics. Because Adams's political life resulted in lengthy absences from his wife, they regularly communicated through letters. This massive collection of letters has made Abigail one of this nation's best known and most beloved women.

In Abigail's most famous letter, dated March 31, 1776, she writes to John of her desire that members of the Continental Congress "remember the ladies" when they create a new code of law:

I long to hear that you have declared an independency - and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

In addition to championing the cause of women, Abigail also championed freedom for slaves. On September 22, 1774, she wrote:

I wish most sincerely there was not a Slave in the province. It allways appeard a most iniquitious Scheme to me - fight ourselfs for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have. You know my mind upon this Subject.

Years later, Abigail would support the right of an African-American child to attend school with white children. In 1797, Abigail enrolled a young African-American servant boy in a local school. When a neighbor reported objections, Abigail responded as follows, as recounted in her letter to her husband dated February 13, 1797:

[The neighbor, Mr. Faxon] inform me that if James went to School, it would break up the School for the other Lads refused to go. Pray Mr. Faxon has the Boy misbehaved? If he has let the Master turn him out of school. O no, there was no complaint of that kind, but they did not chuse to go to School with a Black Boy. . . This Mr. Faxon is attacking the principle of Liberty and equality upon the only Ground upon which it ought to be supported, an equality of Rights. The Boy is a Freeman as much as any of the young Men, and merely because his Face is Black, is he to be denied instruction? How is he to be qualified to procure a livelihood? . . . . Tell them Mr. Faxon that I hope we shall all go to Heaven together. Upon which Faxon laugh'd, and thus ended the conversation. I have not heard any more upon the subject.

1. The Honorable Margaret Marshall, Foreword, Boston Bar Journal (January/February 2000) (quoting Andrew McLaughlin, American History and American Democracy, 20 Proceedings of the American Historical Society 225 (1915)).

2. See generally, Chief Justice Edward F. Hennessey, "Who was James Otis, Jr.?" 77 Mass. Law Review 31-33 (1992); Adams's quotations in this section are found in his Life and Works, 10:248.

3. Life and Works, 10:248

4. Much of the material in this section is drawn from the Boston Public Library's exhibit, "Riot and the Rule of Law: The Boston Massacre, John Adams and the Trial of 1770," on display from January 14-March 6, 2005. See also The Honorable Hiller Zobel, The Boston Massacre (1996); McCullough, John Adams 65-68 (2001). See also https://www.famous-trials.com/massacre for an extensive online collection of materials and accounts of this trial, including John Adams's closing argument in the soldiers' trial.

5. Attorney Josiah Quincy assisted Adams in his role as defense counsel.

6. Patriot-created propaganda included Revere's famous engraved print depicting British soldiers shooting into a crowd of unarmed colonists. See https://www.famous-trials.com/massacre/198-images.

7. McCullough at 68.

8. The two convicted soldiers invoked "the benefit of clergy," a plea that reduced their punishment to the branding of their thumbs.

9. Adams, Legal Papers III (ed. Zobel and Wirth 1966) at 33.

10. Thoughts on Government is available online at: www.teachingamericanhistory.org

11. In Thoughts on Government, Adams was in part responding to Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in January 1776. Though agreeing with Paine's call for American independence, Adams was disturbed by Paine's "feeble" understanding of constitutional government and his view that a unicameral legislature would provide an adequate foundation for government. David McCullough, John Adams 96-97 (2001).

12. Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic: 1776-1878 306-343 (ed. 1998).

13. See McCullough, supra note 3 at 108-110; Richard Bernstein, The Revolution and State Constitution-Making and Legal Reform (available at http://revolution.h-net.msu.edu/essays/bernstein.constitutions.html)

14. Adams was the first American advocate of constitutional conventions. See C. Bradley Thompson, John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty 40-41 (1998).

15. The Essex Result is no longer available online at http://www.usconstitution.com/EssexResult.htm

16. Wood, supra note 4 at 342 (describing a constitutional convention as an "extraordinary invention," perhaps "the most distinctive institutional contribution the American Revolutionaries made to Western politics").

17. McCullough, supra note 3 at p. 220.

18. These essays are no longer available online at http://oll.libertyfund.org/ToC/0077.php

19. Additionally, within the fifteen years following adoption of the Massachusetts Constitution, nearly every state adopted Massachusetts' overall structure of government. In contrast, some earlier state constitutions, such as Pennsylvania's, had a one-house legislature and an executive and judiciary fully created and controlled by the legislature. See Bernstein, supra note 3.

20. For an extensive electronic collection of these letters, see http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/index.html.

John Adams: Biographical summary

John Adams

Birth
October 30, 1735, in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Death
July 4, 1826, in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Education
Harvard College (graduated in 1755).

Family
Married to Abigail Smith Adams in 1764.
Children:

Abigail (Nabby) Amelia Adams Smith (1765-1813)

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) (Sixth President of the United States, 1825-1829)

Susanna Adams (1768-1770)

Charles Adams (1770-1800)

Thomas Boylston Adams (1772-1832)

Legal Career

Admitted to Massachusetts Bar (1758)

Appointed to defend British captain and soldiers indicted for murder following the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770

Founder and First Secretary, Suffolk County Bar Association (1770)

Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, the predecessor to the Supreme Judicial Court (1775-1778), but obligations in Philadelphia prevented his ever presiding over the Court.

Political Career

Elected to Massachusetts Assembly (1770)

Selected as delegate to First and Second Continental Congresses (1774-1776)

Proposed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental armies (1775)

Member of Committee assigned to draft the Declaration of Independence (1776)

Signed Declaration of Independence (1776)

Commissioner to France (1777-1779)

Delegate to Massachusetts Constitutional Convention and principal author of the Massachusetts Constitution (1779)

Minister plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain (1780)

Diplomat to Holland and France (1781-1784)

United States Ambassador to Great Britain (1785-1788)

Elected first Vice President of the United States (1789-1797)

Elected second President of the United States (1797-1801). Presidential Acts included nomination of John Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1801)

Delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820

Political Philosopher and Author
Adams was a prolific author. In addition to his famous diaries and letters, major works include:

A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)

Novanglus Letters (1774-1775)

Thoughts on Government (1776)

A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States (1786-1787)

Discourses on Davila (1791)

Other

Charter member and founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1780)

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John Adams & the Massachusetts Constitution

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An official website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Here's how you know Official websites use .mass.gov A .mass.gov website belongs to an official government organization in Massachusetts. Secure websites use HTTPS certificate A lock icon ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the official website.

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Hartwell Tavern in Lincoln, Massachusetts 

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How much land in Massachusetts is owned by the US?

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How much land in Massachusetts is owned by the US?

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There are 5,034,880 acres of land in Massachusetts and the federal government owns 81,692 acres or 1.62 percent of the state. Interesting to note, Massachusetts is the eighth state that has the least owned government land. As Massachusetts is an important state in our country's founding, the government owns a plethora of historical buildings and areas like the Minute Man National Historical Park where the first battle of the American Revolutionary War took place.

(Source: WWLP "Massachusetts is the 8th state with the least land owned by the federal government"

https://www.wwlp.com/news/massachusetts/massachusetts-is-the-8-state-with-the-least-land-owned-by-the-federal-government/)

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How much federal money does Massachusetts receive?

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How much federal money does Massachusetts receive?

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The federal government has allocated to Massachusetts around $20 billion for this fiscal year. This amount of money will make up around 33% of the state's spending budget. It was estimated that $16,945 was distributed per capita, which is 21% higher than in 2020. With this increase, it makes Massachusetts the second state to receive the highest federal funds.

(Sources: Wise Voter "Federal aid by state"

https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/federal-aid-by-state/#massachusetts and World Population Review "Federal Aid by State 2023"

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/federal-aid-by-state)

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Earlier last month, Massachusetts was awarded by federal grants around $118 million for public safety. The DOJ is prioritizing nationwide safety investments with these grants that will focus in promoting safety and strengthening trust within communities, improving the fairness of the juvenile justice system, accelerating justice reforms, providing further assistance to victims, and advancing science and technology regarding investigations.

Massachusetts will use this grant as well to reduce crimes in areas of high-risk and recidivism, plus to ensure the transition from prison to release is easy as possible. In addition, the awarded grant will be used to further train police officers and public workers like therapists and behavioral specialists so they can efficiently work together to create safer and more trusting relationships with citizens.

(Source: United States Attorney's Office District of Massachusetts "Massachusetts Awarded Over $118 Million in Federal Grants to Support Community Safety"

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/massachusetts-awarded-over-118-million-federal-grants-support-community-safety)

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Compare Massachusetts structure to the U. S. Congress structure

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Compare Massachusetts structure to the U. S. Congress structure

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Both Massachusetts legislature and U. S. congress have a bicameral structural. The Massachusetts senate is made up of 40 members and their state's house of representatives includes 160 members. These members may serve for only two terms.

In the U.S. Congress the senate has 100 members, two serve from each state. The U.S. House of Representatives have a significantly higher number of members than Massachusetts, 435 compared to Massachusetts number. This number may vary based upon each state's population. These members may serve for six years, comparably longer than Massachusetts senate and house of representative members.

(Source: Study.com "Structure of the Massachusetts Legislative Branch" https://study.com/academy/lesson/structure-of-the-massachusetts-legislative-branch.html)

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Making and passing state laws is the responsibility of the Massachusetts legislature along with assigning and raising state funds. In contrast, the U.S. congress is responsible for making federal laws, having jurisdiction over the federal budget, declaring war, and provides guidance and authorization on presidential appointments.

(Source: Mass.gov "The Legislative Process"

https://www.mass.gov/doc/the-legislative-process-0/download)

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In terms of Jurisdiction, Massachusetts legislature handles state matters while the U.S. congress is involved with federal, and national concerns and issues. One example of Massachusetts jurisdiction is education: The governance and financing of k-12 education in the state of Massachusetts are under the control of the state government. While immigration would be an example U.S. federal government jurisdiction as the admission, naturalization of immigrants, and enforcement of immigration laws all fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Federal duties can also include border security-national defense.

(Source: Study.com "Federal, State & Local Laws | Overview, Differences, & Examples" https://study.com/academy/lesson/local-state-federal-ordinances-definitions-and-differences.html#:~:text=State%20laws%20include%20both%20civil,possession%20of%20a%20controlled%20substance.)

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In terms of leadership roles, the Massachusetts senate is led by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house leads in the house of representatives.

In contrast, in the U.S. Congress, the president of the senate is led by the vice president. In the case of a tie this leader may have the right to vote. The house of representatives is presided over by the speaker of the house.

(Source: Ma Legislature "Rules"

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Rules/House)

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There are three main media outlets in Massachusetts: The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and the Salem News. The Salem News reaches around 63,000 people and is located in Danvers, MA. Boston Herald's audience is 108,548 people and is located in Boston. This news has been awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for Feature Photography and Editorial Writing. Last but certainly not least, is the highly acclaimed The Boston Globe. It is the state's main news source which is why it reaches around 330,286 citizens. It has been awarded with three Pulitzers for: Public Service (3x), Breaking News Reporting, and National Reporting. As well as a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Newspaper Overall Coverage.

(Sources: Muck Rack "Top 30 newspapers in Massachusetts" https://muckrack.com/rankings/top-30-Massachusetts-newspapers

The Pulitzer Prizes "The Boston Herald" https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/boston-herald

The Pulitzer Prizes "The Boston Globe" https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/boston-globe-0

Wikipedia "GLAAD Media Award" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLAAD_Media_Award)

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Graham v. District Attorney of Hampen County

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Graham v. District Attorney of Hampen County

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Of April 2021, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the national ACLU, the Committee for Public Cousel Services and the law firm Goulston and Storrs filed a lawsuit against the Hampden County Attorney's District Office (HCDAO) for not properly disclosing evidence from the Springfield Police Department (SPD). Because of the improper practices performed by the SPD, several people and groups were affected by this crime. So, a goal in the lawsuit was to make certain that from then on, the HCDAO has to rightly disclose misconduct as exculpatory evidence in criminal cases. The plaintiffs asked that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court demand an investigation into the violence and misconduct by the Springfield Police Department. (Source: ACLU "Graham v. District Attorney for Hampden County" Graham v. District Attorney for Hampden County | American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org))