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2. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Berkshire County
3. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Bristol County
4. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Cumberland County
5. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
6. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
7. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Essex County
8. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Essex County
9. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Hampshire County
10. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Hampshire County
11. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Lincoln County
12. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Middlesex County
13. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Middlesex County
14. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Plymouth County
15. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Plymouth County
16. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Suffolk County
17. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Suffolk County
18. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Worcester County
19. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, Worcester County
20. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, York County
21. Massachusetts 1787 State Senate, York County
22. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Barnstable County
23. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Berkshire County
24. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Bristol County
25. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Cumberland County
26. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
27. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Essex County
28. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Hampshire County
29. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Lincoln County
30. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Middlesex County
31. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Plymouth County
32. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Suffolk County
33. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, Worcester County
34. Massachusetts 1788 State Senate, York County
35. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Barnstable County
36. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Berkshire County
37. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Bristol County
38. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Cumberland County
39. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
40. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Essex County
41. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Hampshire County
42. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Lincoln County
43. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Middlesex County
44. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Plymouth County
45. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Suffolk County
46. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, Worcester County
47. Massachusetts 1789 State Senate, York County
48. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Barnstable County
49. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Berkshire County
50. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Bristol County
51. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Cumberland County
52. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Dukes and Nantuck Counties
53. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Essex County
54. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Hampshire County
55. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Lincoln County
56. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Middlesex County
57. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Plymouth County
58. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Suffolk County
59. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Worcester County
60. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, York County
61. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Barnstable County
62. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Berkshire County
63. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Bristol County
64. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Cumberland County
65. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Dukes and Nantuck Counties
66. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Essex County
67. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Hampshire County
68. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
69. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Middlesex County
70. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Plymouth County
71. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Suffolk County
72. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, Worcester County
73. Massachusetts 1791 State Senate, York County
74. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Barnstable County
75. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Berkshire County
76. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Bristol County
77. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Cumberland County
78. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Dukes and Nantuck Counties
79. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Essex County
80. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Hampshire County
81. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
82. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Middlesex County
83. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Plymouth County
84. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Suffolk County
85. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, Worcester County
86. Massachusetts 1792 State Senate, York County
87. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Barnstable County
88. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Berkshire County
89. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Bristol County
90. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Cumberland County
91. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Dukes and Nantuck Counties
92. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Essex County
93. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Hampshire County
94. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
95. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Middlesex County
96. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Plymouth County
97. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Suffolk County
98. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, Worcester County
99. Massachusetts 1793 State Senate, York County
100. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Barnstable County
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With independence from Great Britain in 1776, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was governed by the same bicameral legislature that existed during the colonial period. It was not until 1780 that John Adams, armed with a statewide mandate for a constitutional convention, set about drafting a formal state constitution. What Adams forged proved so successful that it later became a template for the Constitution of United States. What made the 1780 Massachusetts constitution so influential was how it seemingly balanced the populist ideals promised to the citizenry by the Revolution with the fundamentally conservative expectations of the existing Massachusetts elite. In terms of structure, it established an elective chief magistrate (the governor), a bicameral legislature (the General Court made up of a House and a Senate), and an independent judiciary (an appointed state court system). Also, Adams included a declaration of rights to ensure civil liberties (as well as his brainchild's ratification). Although ratified by town meetings throughout the commonwealth, the document was fundamentally conservative in that it secured the ruling elite's control over the state by giving disproportionate power to the wealthy coastal counties of Suffolk and Essex. Not surprisingly, the 1780 constitution became the darling of the Federalist Party establishment that fought to resist constitutional reform. In opposition, the Democratic-Republicans chafed at the propertied basis for representation in the Senate, which gave an eastern county like Suffolk six senators to Berkshire's two, despite the fact that Berkshire had a larger population. Also, the Democratic-Republicans, whose popular base was in the western part of the state and tended to be of modest means, despised the pecuniary qualifications for the franchise, as well as the nonelected judiciary, claiming both were profoundly undemocratic.
In 1820 the opponents to the 1780 constitution had their chance when the Maine district of Massachusetts was broken off and given statehood. As a result of such radical change, the General Court called for a constitutional convention to revisit the constitution of 1780. Despite optimistic expectations for major constitutional reform, an assortment of conservatives, led by a highly sophisticated Federalist Party machine, outwitted the forces of reform at the convention, and little significant change was effected. Power remained centralized in the east, with Boston serving as its epicenter. Although the state constitutional convention proved a great victory for the Federalist establishment, in the early 1820s the party faced an angry populist insurgency fed up with the dictatorial leadership style of the Federalists. In Boston a third party, the Middling Interest, emerged that rejected the deferential nature of past politics and took up an activist stand for reform. In the mayoral election of 1822, the insurgency forced Federalist Party boss Harrison Gray Otis to bow out of the race and elected a Middling Interest candidate, thus marking the demise of the Federalist Party in Massachusetts. Although it still existed in name for a few more years, the party never regained its once dominant position in Massachusetts political life, thus signaling the advent of the Jacksonian Age and the Second Party System.
Bibliography
- Banner, James M., Jr.
To the Hartford Convention: The Federalist and the Origins of Politics in Massachusetts. New York: Knopf, 1970. - Brooke, John L.
The Heart of the Commonwealth: Society and Political Culture in Worchester County, Massachusetts, 1713–1861 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. - Brown, Richard D. and Jack Tager.
Massachusetts: A Concise History. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. - Cayton, Andrew R. L.
"The Fragmentation of 'A Great Family': The Panic of 1819 and the Rise of the Middling Interest in Boston, 1818–1822," Journal of the Early Republic, 2 (Summer 1982), 143–167. - Clark, Christopher.
The Roots of Rural Capitalism: Western Massachusetts, 1780–1860 Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990. - Crocker, Matthew H.
The Magic of the Many: Josiah Quincy and the Rise of Mass Politics in Boston, 1800–1830. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. - Crocker, Matthew H.
"'The Siege of Boston is once more raised'": Municipal Politics and the Collapse of Federalism, 1821–1823," inMassachusetts Politics: Selected Essays, ed. Jack Tager, Martin Kaufman, and Michael F. Konig. Westfield, MA: Institute for Massachusetts Studies Press, 1998, pp. 52–71. - Dalzell, Robert F., Jr.
Enterprising Elite, The Boston Associates and the World They Made. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987. - Fisher, David Hackett.
The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1965. - Formisano, Ronald P.
The Transformation of Political Culture: Massachusetts Parties, 1790s–1840s New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. - Handlin, Oscar and Mary Flug Handlin.
Commonwealth: Study of the Role of Government in the American Economy, 1774–1861, rev. ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969. - Hartford, William F.
Money, Morals, and Politics: Massachusetts in the Age of the Boston Associates. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001. - McCaughey, Robert A.
Josiah Quincy, 1772–1864: The Last Federalist. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974. - Morison, Samuel Eliot.
Harrison Gray Otis, 1765–1848: The Urbane Federalist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969. - Morison, Samuel Eliot.
The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783–1860. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961. - Peterson, Merrill D., ed.
Democracy, Liberty, and Property: The State Constitutional Conventions of the 1820's. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966. - Sheidley, Harlow W.
Sectional Nationalism: Massachusetts Conservative Leaders and the Transformation of America, 1815–1836. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998. - Smith, Page.
John Adams: 1784–1826, Vol. II. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962. - Story, Ronald.
Harvard and the Boston Upper Class: The Forging of an Aristocracy, 1800–1870 Middletown, CN: Wesleyan University Press, 1980. - Wilkie, Richard W. and Jack Tager, eds.
Historical Atlas of Massachusetts. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1991.
State Senate
The upper house of the State Legislature. Until 1792, the upper house in Delaware was the Council. Until 1819, the upper house in Connecticut was the Council of Assistants. By 1825, all of the states had an upper house called the State Senate except New Jersey, whose upper house was the Legislative Council and Vermont, which had a unicameral legislature.
1787 - 1825: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Office Scope: State
Role Scope: State (Connecticut) / County / District / City / Parish