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102. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 2
103. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3, Ballot 2
104. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4, Ballot 2
105. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4, Ballot 3
106. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4, Ballot 4
107. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4, Ballot 5
108. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8, Ballot 2
109. Massachusetts 1789 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8, Ballot 3
110. Massachusetts 1790 Governor
111. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Boston
112. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Boston, Ballot 2
113. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Braintree
114. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Brookline
115. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Charlemont
116. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Chatham
117. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Falmouth
118. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Fitchburg
119. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Oakham
120. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Tisbury
121. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Watertown
122. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Weston
123. Massachusetts 1790 House of Representatives, Worcester
124. Massachusetts 1790 Lieutenant Governor
125. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Barnstable County
126. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Berkshire County
127. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Bristol County
128. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Cumberland County
129. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Dukes and Nantuck Counties
130. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Essex County
131. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Hampshire County
132. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Lincoln County
133. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Middlesex County
134. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Plymouth County
135. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Suffolk County
136. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, Worcester County
137. Massachusetts 1790 State Senate, York County
138. Massachusetts 1790 Treasurer, Dukes County
139. Massachusetts 1790 Treasurer, Worcester County
140. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
141. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
142. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
143. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
144. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
145. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5, Ballot 2
146. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
147. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6, Ballot 2
148. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
149. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7, Ballot 2
150. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
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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.
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