being constantly founded. Property was well diffused, though for half a century after 1690 the Colony suffered from a reckless financial policy, which flooded the country with paper money. In resistance to the arbitrary acts of the British Parliament, Massachusetts was the pioneer. The struggle against the writs of assistance and the famous speech of James Otis (May, 1761) marked the opening of the contest which ended in independence. The opposition to the Stamp Act, the Boston massacre, the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, the closing of the port of Boston, and the virtual annulment of the charter, followed in rapid succession. In October, 1774, the General Court resolved itself into a Provincial Congress and proceeded to erect an independent State government. The organization of a militia and the storing of supplies led to Lexington and Concord. (For military operations during the Revolution, see United States.) In the war Massachusetts took the leading part, though her population was by no means united in the cause of the Revolution. Among the Loyalists who were banished or who voluntarily abandoned their homes were many of the most prominent and wealthy families. In 1780 a constitution was adopted, and by the Bill of Rights, prefixed to it, slavery, as was subsequently decided by the courts, was abolished. In 1786 the rising known as Shays's Rebellion, occasioned by heavy taxes and the poverty of the people, occurred in the western part of the State. The Anti-Federalist element in the State was powerful till 1797, and the United States Constitution was ratified in January, 1788, by the close vote of 187 to 168. After 1797 the Federalist Party became predominant, the opposition to the War of 1812 was bitter, and delegates from Massachusetts participated in the Hartford Convention (q.v.). The State remained stubbornly Federalist long after the party had disappeared everywhere else, and as a result it took little interest in national affairs. With the passing of the Federalist Party greater liberty of thought came into the fields of politics and religion. In 1815 ‘dissenters’ were released from paying taxes to support Congregational ministers, and in 1833 the Congregational Church was disestablished. Educational development continued under all régimes. In 1793 Williams College and in 1821 Amherst College were founded, and in 1837 a State board of education was created. The anti-slavery movement had its birth in Massachusetts, and at Boston William Lloyd Garrison (q.v.) began the publication of the Liberator on January 1, 1831. Abolitionism grew rapidly after 1840, and was favored in its growth by such episodes as the capture of the runaway slave Shadrach in the streets of Boston in 1851, and of Anthony Burns in 1854. In the Civil War, under the administration of the patriotic Governor, John A. Andrew, the State contributed nearly 160,000 men to the Union armies.
One of the most important public works ever undertaken by the State was the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel which was completed in 1873. Legislation since the Civil War has dealt largely with the questions of the liquor trade, the regulation of corporations, municipal government, the civil service, and labor. As early as 1853 a law reducing the working day from twelve hours to ten was passed. Since then the State has been active in caring for the industrial classes, to such an extent, indeed, that after 1895 the depressed condition of the textile trades was attributed by some to the fact that employers were unduly hampered by oppressive State regulations passed to protect labor, and could not meet the competition of the rising manufactures of the South. In 1898 and subsequent years a succession of strikes among the mill operatives caused great distress among the working classes. The period after the Civil War witnessed the rise of many political movements. The temperance question came into prominence in 1867; the question of the admission of women to the suffrage was agitated up to 1880; the National Labor Party exerted great influence in 1878. From 1858 to 1874 the State government was Republican. In 1874 the Democrats elected their candidate for Governor on an anti-prohibition platform; in 1882 they were victorious with Benjamin F. Butler as their candidate. In 1890 the revelation of corruption in the Legislature brought about the choice of a Democratic Governor in the person of William E. Russell, whose great popularity caused him to be reëlected in 1891 and 1892. Since then the State has been Republican by heavy majorities. In national elections Massachusetts has been Federalist, Whig, and Republican, with the exception of the years 1804 (Jefferson), 1820 (Monroe), 1824 and 1828 (John Quincy Adams). The list of colonial and State governors of Massachusetts is as follows:
| PLYMOUTH COLONY | ||
| John Carver | 1620-21 | |
| William Bradford | 1621-33 | |
| Edward Winslow | 1633-34 | |
| Thomas Prence | 1634-35 | |
| William Bradford | 1637-38 | |
| Thomas Prence | 1638-39 | |
| William Bradford | 1639-44 | |
| Edward Winslow | 1644-45 | |
| William Bradford | 1645-57 | |
| Thomas Prence | 1657-73 | |
| Josiah Winslow | 1673-81 | |
| Thomas Hinckley | 1681-86 | |
| Sir Edward Andros (Governor-General) | 1686-89 | |
| Thomas Hinckley | 1689-92 | |
| Plymouth Colony absorbed by Massachusetts Bay. | ||
| MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY | ||
| John Endicott | 1629-30 | |
| John Winthrop | 1630-34 | |
| Thomas Dudley | 1634-35 | |
| John Haynes | 1635-36 | |
| Henry Vane | 1636-37 | |
| John Winthrop | 1637-40 | |
| Thomas Dudley | 1640-41 | |
| Richard Bellingham | 1641-42 | |
| John Winthrop | 1642-44 | |
| John Endicott | 1644-45 | |
| Thomas Dudley | 1645-46 | |
| John Winthrop | 1646-49 | |
| John Endicott | 1649-50 | |
| Thomas Dudley | 1650-51 | |
| John Endicott | 1651-54 | |
| Richard Bellingham | 1654-55 | |
| John Endicott | 1655-65 | |
| Richard Bellingham | 1665-73 | |
| John Leverett | 1673-79 | |
| Simon Bradstreet | 1679-84 | |
| Joseph Dudley (President) | 1684-86 | |
| Sir Edmund Andros (Governor-General) | 1686-89 | |
| Thomas Danforth (acting) | 1689-92 | |
| William Phips | 1692-94 | |
| William Stoughton | 1694-99 | |
| Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont | 1699-1700 | |
| William Stoughton (acting) | 1700-01 | |
| The Council | 1701-02 | |
| Joseph Dudley | 1702-1715 | |
| The Council | 1715 | |
| Joseph Dudley | 1715 | |
| William Tailer (acting) | 1715-16 | |
| Samuel Shute | 1716-23 | |
| William Dummer (acting) | 1723-1728 | |
| William Burnet | 1728-1729 | |
