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2. Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate
3. Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
4. Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 3
5. Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 4
6. Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 5
7. Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 6
8. Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 7
9. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. Senate
10. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
11. Massachusetts 1790 U.S. Senate, Ballot 3
12. Massachusetts 1796 State Printer, English Journal
13. Massachusetts 1796 State Printer, English Journal, Ballot 2
14. Massachusetts 1796 State Printer, English Journal, Ballot 4
15. Massachusetts 1796 U.S. Senate
16. Massachusetts 1796 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
17. Massachusetts 1796 U.S. Senate, Ballot 3
18. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Middlesex County, Ballot 2
19. Massachusetts 1798 U.S. Senate
20. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Bristol County, Ballot 2
21. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Washington Counties, Ballot 2
22. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Middlesex County, Ballot 2
23. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Norfolk County, Ballot 2
24. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Plymouth, Dukes and Nantucket Counties, Ballot 2
25. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, York County, Ballot 2
26. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, At Large
27. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, First Eastern District
28. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, First Middle District
29. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, First Southern District
30. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, First Western District
31. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Fourth Middle District
32. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Fourth Western District
33. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Second Eastern District
34. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Second Middle District
35. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Second Southern District
36. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Second Western District
37. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Third Eastern District
38. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Third Middle District
39. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Third Southern District
40. Massachusetts 1800 Electoral College, Third Western District
41. Massachusetts 1800 Governor's Council
42. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Barnstable County, Ballot 2
43. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Washington Counties, Ballot 2
44. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Middlesex County, Ballot 2
45. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Plymouth County, Ballot 2
46. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, York County, Ballot 2
47. Massachusetts 1801 Governor's Council
48. Massachusetts 1801 Governor's Council, Ballot 2
49. Massachusetts 1801 Governor's Council, Ballot 3
50. Massachusetts 1801 Governor's Council, Ballot 4
51. Massachusetts 1801 Governor's Council, Ballot 5
52. Massachusetts 1801 Lieutenant Governor, Ballot 2
53. Massachusetts 1801 Major General, 9th Division
54. Massachusetts 1801 State Senate, Bristol County, Ballot 2
55. Massachusetts 1801 State Senate, Cumberland County, Ballot 2
56. Massachusetts 1801 State Senate, Dukes, Nantucket, and Plymouth Counties, Ballot 2
57. Massachusetts 1801 State Senate, Essex County, Ballot 2
58. Massachusetts 1801 State Senate, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Washington Counties, Ballot 2
59. Massachusetts 1801 State Senate, Worcester County, Ballot 2
60. Massachusetts 1801 State Senate, York County, Ballot 2
61. Massachusetts 1802 Clerk of the House of Representatives
62. Massachusetts 1802 Clerk of the Senate
63. Massachusetts 1802 Governor's Council
64. Massachusetts 1802 Senate President
65. Massachusetts 1802 Speaker of the House
66. Massachusetts 1802 Speaker of the House, Ballot 2
67. Massachusetts 1802 State Senate, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Washington Counties, Ballot 2
68. Massachusetts 1802 State Senate, Plymouth County, Ballot 2
69. Massachusetts 1802 State Senate, York County, Ballot 2
70. Massachusetts 1803 Clerk of the House of Representatives
71. Massachusetts 1803 Clerk of the Senate
72. Massachusetts 1803 Governor's Council
73. Massachusetts 1803 Senate President
74. Massachusetts 1803 Speaker of the House
75. Massachusetts 1803 State Senate, Hampshire County, Ballot 2
76. Massachusetts 1803 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties, Ballot 2
77. Massachusetts 1803 State Senate, York County, Second Ballot
78. Massachusetts 1803 U.S. Senate
79. Massachusetts 1803 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
80. Massachusetts 1803 U.S. Senate, Ballot 3
81. Massachusetts 1803 U.S. Senate, Ballot 4
82. Massachusetts 1804 Clerk of the House of Representatives
83. Massachusetts 1804 Council
84. Massachusetts 1804 Senate President
85. Massachusetts 1804 Speaker of the House
86. Massachusetts 1804 State Senate, Barnstable County, Ballot 2
87. Massachusetts 1804 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties, Ballot 2
88. Massachusetts 1804 State Senate, Plymouth County, Ballot 2
89. Massachusetts 1805 Chaplain of the House of Representatives
90. Massachusetts 1805 Clerk of the House of Representatives
91. Massachusetts 1805 Clerk of the Senate
92. Massachusetts 1805 Governor's Council
93. Massachusetts 1805 Senate President
94. Massachusetts 1805 Speaker of the House
95. Massachusetts 1805 U.S. Senate
96. Massachusetts 1805 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
97. Massachusetts 1805 U.S. Senate, Ballot 3
98. Massachusetts 1806 Clerk of the House of Representatives
99. Massachusetts 1806 Clerk of the Senate
100. Massachusetts 1806 Council
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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
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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.
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