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102. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Bristol County
103. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Cumberland County
104. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
105. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Essex County
106. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Hampshire County
107. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
108. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Middlesex County
109. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Norfolk County
110. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Plymouth County
111. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Suffolk County
112. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, Worcester County
113. Massachusetts 1794 State Senate, York County
114. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Barnstable County
115. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Berkshire County
116. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Bristol County
117. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Cumberland County
118. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Dukes, Nantucket and Plymouth Counties
119. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Essex County
120. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Hampshire County
121. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
122. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Middlesex County
123. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Norfolk County
124. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Suffolk County
125. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Worcester County
126. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, Worcester County, Special
127. Massachusetts 1795 State Senate, York County
128. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Barnstable County
129. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Berkshire County
130. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Bristol County
131. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Cumberland County
132. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
133. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Essex County
134. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Essex County, Special
135. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Hampshire County
136. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Hampshire County, Special
137. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
138. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Middlesex County
139. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Norfolk County
140. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Plymouth County
141. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Suffolk County
142. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Suffolk County, Special
143. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, Worcester County
144. Massachusetts 1796 State Senate, York County
145. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Barnstable County
146. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Berkshire County
147. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Bristol County
148. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Cumberland County
149. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Dukes, Nantucket and Plymouth County
150. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Essex County
151. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Hampshire County
152. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
153. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Middlesex County
154. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Middlesex County, Ballot 2
155. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Norfolk County
156. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Suffolk County
157. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, Worcester County
158. Massachusetts 1797 State Senate, York County
159. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Barnstable County
160. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Berkshire County
161. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Bristol County
162. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Cumberland County
163. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
164. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Essex County
165. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Hampshire County
166. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Hancock, Lincoln and Washington Counties
167. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Middlesex County
168. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Norfolk County
169. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Plymouth County
170. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Suffolk County
171. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, Worcester County
172. Massachusetts 1798 State Senate, York County
173. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Barnstable County
174. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Berkshire County
175. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Bristol County
176. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Bristol County, Ballot 2
177. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Cumberland County
178. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Dukes, Nantucket and Plymouth Counties
179. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Essex County
180. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Hampshire County
181. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Washington Counties
182. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Washington Counties, Ballot 2
183. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Middlesex County
184. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Middlesex County, Ballot 2
185. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Norfolk County
186. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Norfolk County, Ballot 2
187. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Plymouth, Dukes and Nantucket Counties, Ballot 2
188. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Suffolk County
189. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, Worcester County
190. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, York County
191. Massachusetts 1799 State Senate, York County, Ballot 2
192. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Barnstable County
193. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Barnstable County, Ballot 2
194. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Berkshire County
195. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Bristol County
196. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Cumberland County
197. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Dukes and Nantucket Counties
198. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Essex County
199. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Hampshire County
200. Massachusetts 1800 State Senate, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Washington Counties
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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