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  #  Entered Union  Year Settled 6th         Feb. 6, 1788        1620  Nickname Bay State  Rank     Population 15th      6,497,967  Rank     Square Miles 44th      10,555  State Bird Wild Turkey (state game bird)  State Flower  State Tree  State Motto Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem            By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty  One of the six New England states, and one of the first 13 states in the Union (it entered in 1788), Massachusetts is known as the "Old Colony State." The Pilgrims established their settlement at Plymouth in 1620, arriving on the Mayflower. They were followed shortly by the Puritans, who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The Puritans named their colony after a local Indian tribe whose name means "a large hill place." The birthplace of many of the ideals of the American Revolution, Massachusetts attracted people who believed in self-government. It's appropriate that the state flower is the mayflower, also known as the trailing arbutus.  Raid of Deerfield, Massachusetts in Queen Anne's War The colonists in the tiny frontier settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1704 were aware of surrounding danger. The French and British were fighting Queen Anne's War for control of the continent. Deerfield, under British rule, was in danger of attack by the French.  As a precaution, the town folk stayed within the town's palisade, a tall wooden fence enclosing the area. But they did not expect an attack in the middle of winter. On February 29, 1704, between 200 and 300 French soldiers and their Native American allies surprised and raided Deerfield. The results for the townspeople were disastrous.  Deerfield quickly fell to its invaders. Fifty-six English men, women, and children were killed and more than 100 residents were driven on a forced march through heavy snows to Canada. Deerfield's minister, the Reverend John Williams, his wife and five children, were among the captives.  Twenty-one of the prisoners died along the way. Mrs. Williams was one of them. The minister, however, survived the trip. After more than a year as a prisoner of war, he and 60 other captives returned to Massachusetts. But some stayed, joining either Native American or French society.  Reverend Williams memorialized his Canadian experience in a book, The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion, first printed in 1707. In it, he tells his story and that of his family and parishioners. Although four of his children returned home with him, his daughter, Eunice Williams, remained in Canada, joining the Mohawk tribe. She took the name A'ongote, which means "She (was) taken and placed (as a member of their tribe)," and in early 1713, she married a Native American man.  In 1713, Queen Anne's War ended. France and England did not do battle in America again until the French and Indian War of 1754. The people of Deerfield could rebuild their town and, for a while, rest easy.  John Adams, born October 30, 1735, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, worked as a teacher and lawyer before dedicating himself to a life of patriotism and politics. He was America's second president. Adams was well known for his extreme political independence, brilliant mind and passionate patriotism.  He was a leader in the Continental Congress and an important diplomatic figure, before becoming America's first vice president. Adams then served one term as president but lost the election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson, his longtime friend and political rival.  Also dear to John Adams was his wife and partner of 54 years, Abigail Adams. She was a gifted intellectual who corresponded with her husband during his long absences from home, chronicling many important events of America's founding.  One of the earliest recorded examples of suffrage is in a letter from Abigail to John. John, who is attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, received a letter asking that he and those working on the Declaration of Independence "Remember the Ladies." She was not taken seriously. The Declaration's wording specifies that "all men are created equal."  John and Abigail Adams were the parents of another U.S. president, John Quincy Adams. Do you know how many other fathers and their sons have both been president?  Do you know who is considered to be the first hero of the American Revolution?  The Boston Massacre was a struggle that took place in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 5, 1770, just before the start of the American Revolution. Late that day, a crowd of colonists gathered to shout at and bother some British troops. Boston residents were resentful of the presence of the troops in their city. As tension mounted, the soldiers suddenly fired their muskets. Five colonists were shot and killed. Crispus Attucks, a black sailor and former slave, was shot and became the first person to die in the American Revolution.  The violent incident became a rallying point for American patriots, led by Samuel Adams. Crispus Attucks's body was laid out at Faneuil (pronounced fan-yule) Hall in Boston. Patriot leaders organized a funeral procession for the five who were killed.  Paul Revere produced the engraving shown here of the Boston Massacre. It was used as propaganda (something used to help or harm a cause or individual) to demand the removal of British troops from Boston. Due to the increasing tension in the city, British troops temporarily withdrew from Boston to Fort William on Castle Island. The British solders involved in the Boston Massacre were also brought to trial. Two of them were found guilty of manslaughter, punished, and discharged from the army.  Defending the Colonies against attack by the French and others had cost the British a great deal of money. As a result, the British had very high taxes in their country. They thus decided to shift some of their financial burden to the colonists.  The Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed all legal documents, newspapers and other documents, was met with a great uproar in the Colonies. In 1766, this tax was repealed, but it was just the beginning of the problems between the colonists and the British. The Boston Tea Party in 1773 was an act of revolt against the British and their tax on tea in the Colonies.  Tensions such as these eventually led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. A year earlier, the War of Independence, also known as the American Revolution, began. When the British finally surrendered on October 19, 1781, Americans were officially independent of Britain and set about establishing their own government.  When you sign your name, that's known as giving your John Hancock. Born on January 12 in 1737, John Hancock is most famous for his bold signature. On August 2, 1776, he was the first member of the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence, the document first demanding independence for the United States from the rule of Great Britain. (The Declaration was "adopted," or accepted, on July 4, 1776.) How do you sign your name?  Hancock wrote his name in big, bold letters that day, acting as president of the Second Continental Congress. Do you think he may have practiced writing his signature?  John Hancock had more than just a pretty signature. He was a man who knew how to get things done. He commissioned our future first president, George Washington, as commander in chief of the Army of the United Colonies in 1775.  After the Revolution, Hancock, as governor of Massachusetts, led his state toward ratification of the U.S. Constitution. He was also active in creating a navy for the new nation, and he was put forth as a candidate for the presidential election of 1789. He died in 1793 while serving his ninth term as Massachusetts' governor. So the next time someone asks you for your autograph, think of John Hancock.  The Jackson Homestead -- Station on the Underground Railroad If you were an escaped slave before the Civil War the best way to travel was along the Underground Railroad. This wasn't a real railroad but a secret system located throughout the Northern states. The system helped escaped slaves from the South reach places of safety in the North or in Canada, often called the "Promised Land," because U.S. slave laws could not be enforced there.  The slaves often wore disguises and traveled in darkness on the "railroad." Railway terms were used in the secret system: Routes were called "lines," stopping places were called "stations," and people who helped escaped slaves along the way were "conductors." One of the most famous "conductors" on the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman, a former slave who escaped from Maryland.  William Jackson's house in Newton, Massachusetts, was a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The Jacksons were abolitionists, people who worked to end slavery. Today, the Jackson House is a museum with a large collection of historical objects and documents that are used for research into Newton's past.  What were the first words ever spoken on the telephone? They were spoken by Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, when he made the first call on March 10, 1876, to his assistant, Thomas Watson: "Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you." What would you have said?  Born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Bell became an expert in sound and public speaking. In 1873 Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology at Boston University School of Oratory. His understanding of sound helped him to teach the deaf and then invent the telephone.  Bell was a man of vision. After the telephone's success, he wrote to his father about a future when "friends converse with each other without leaving home." How often do you talk with your friends on the phone? Can you imagine how life would be different without it?  Inspired by his scientific curiosity, Bell went on to create other new inventions, including the photophone in 1880. This first wireless telephone transmitted sound on a beam of light instead of electrical wires. It is the forefather of the cordless phone and 80% of today's telephone systems that use fiber optics.  Bell's first telephone call was so famous, he repeated the phrase in 1915 in the formal opening of the completed transcontinental telephone lines connecting America's East and West coasts. Picking up the phone in New York, Mr. Bell said, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you." But this time Watson replied that it would take him a week; he was on the other end of the line in San Francisco.  W.E.B. Du Bois, 1868-1963 William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a noted scholar, editor, and African American activist. Du Bois was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP -- the largest and oldest civil rights organization in America).  Throughout his life Du Bois fought discrimination and racism. He made significant contributions to debates about race, politics, and history in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, primarily through his writing and impassioned speaking on race relations. Du Bois also served as editor of The Crisis magazine and published several scholarly works on race and African American history. By the time he died, in 1963, he had written 17 books, edited four journals and played a key role in reshaping black-white relations in America.  |
