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2202. Massachusetts 1818 House of Representatives, Weston
2203. Massachusetts 1818 House of Representatives, Worcester
2204. Massachusetts 1818 Lieutenant Governor
2205. Massachusetts 1818 Senate President
2206. Massachusetts 1818 Speaker of the House
2207. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket District
2208. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Berkshire County
2209. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Berkshire County, Special
2210. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Bristol County
2211. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Cumberland County
2212. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Cumberland County, Special
2213. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Essex County
2214. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Hampshire District
2215. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Hampshire District, Special
2216. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Kennebec County
2217. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Lincoln District
2218. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Middlesex County
2219. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Norfolk County
2220. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Oxford and Somerset District
2221. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Plymouth County
2222. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Suffolk County
2223. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, Worcester County
2224. Massachusetts 1818 State Senate, York County
2225. Massachusetts 1818 Treasurer, Barnstable County
2226. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Barnstable District
2227. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Berkshire District
2228. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Bristol District
2229. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #1
2230. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #2
2231. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #3
2232. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #4
2233. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #5
2234. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #6
2235. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #7
2236. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Eastern District #7, Special
2237. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Essex North District
2238. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Essex South District
2239. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Hampshire North District
2240. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Hampshire South District
2241. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Middlesex District
2242. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Norfolk District
2243. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Plymouth District
2244. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Suffolk District
2245. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Worcester North District
2246. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. House of Representatives, Worcester South District
2247. Massachusetts 1818 U.S. Senate, Special
2248. Massachusetts 1819 Assessor, Salem
2249. Massachusetts 1819 Clerk of the House of Representatives
2250. Massachusetts 1819 Clerk of the Senate
2251. Massachusetts 1819 Constitution for the State of Maine
2252. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention President
2253. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention Secretary
2254. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention Secretary, Ballot 2
2255. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention, Bethel
2256. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention, Dresden
2257. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention, Eastport
2258. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention, Lubec
2259. Massachusetts 1819 Constitutional Convention, Portland
2260. Massachusetts 1819 Governor
2261. Massachusetts 1819 Governor's Council
2262. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Amherst
2263. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Andover
2264. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Bangor
2265. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Blandford
2266. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Boston
2267. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Brookline
2268. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Charlemont
2269. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Chatham
2270. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Concord
2271. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Eastport
2272. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Fitchburg
2273. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Hardwick
2274. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Lubeck
2275. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Marblehead
2276. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Marshfield
2277. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Mendon
2278. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Nantucket
2279. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Portland
2280. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Salem
2281. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Tisbury
2282. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Turner
2283. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Union
2284. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Watertown
2285. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Waterville
2286. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Waterville, Ballot 2
2287. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Western
2288. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Weston
2289. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Wiscasset
2290. Massachusetts 1819 House of Representatives, Worcester
2291. Massachusetts 1819 Lieutenant Governor
2292. Massachusetts 1819 Maine Separation
2293. Massachusetts 1819 Maine Separation, Maine Only
2294. Massachusetts 1819 Maine Separation, Whole of Massachusetts
2295. Massachusetts 1819 Secretary of State
2296. Massachusetts 1819 Selectman, Boston
2297. Massachusetts 1819 Selectman, Salem
2298. Massachusetts 1819 Senate President
2299. Massachusetts 1819 Speaker of the House
2300. Massachusetts 1819 State Senate, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket District
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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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The Roots of Rural Capitalism: Western Massachusetts, 1780–1860 Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990. - Crocker, Matthew H.
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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.
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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.
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