Difference between revisions of "Massachusetts"

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(Many Americans have fled from liberal Massachusetts and it relies heavily on attracting foreigners to maintain its population levels.)
("Fleeing" is a very strong term.)
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The '''Commonwealth of Massachusetts''' is a state in the [[New England]] region of the northeastern [[United States]].  Its capital city is [[Boston]]. The name is derived from the Indian tribe that lived there, the "Massachusett".  It is one of four states officially known as "commonwealths", but there are no practical differences between a "commonwealth" and a "state". It is well known for being a bastion of American liberalism and is known, along with [[California]] and [[New York]], for being one of the "bluest" of [[blue state]]s.
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The '''Commonwealth of Massachusetts''' is a state in the [[New England]] region of the northeastern [[United States]].  Its capital city is [[Boston]]. The name is derived from the Indian tribe that lived there, the "Massachusett".  It is one of four states officially known as "commonwealths"; there are no practical differences between a "commonwealth" and a "state". It is well known for being a bastion of American liberalism and is known, along with [[California]] and [[New York]], for being one of the "bluest" of [[blue state]]s.
  
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Many Americans have fled from [[liberal]] Massachusetts and it relies heavily on attracting foreigners to maintain its population levels.
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In December, 2015, Massachusetts was ranked first in a survey of the best states to live in.<ref>http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/11/23/most-livable-states/</ref>  A survey in 2019 shows an 0.1% increase in population, for a ranking of about 37.<ref>[[State_population_changes,_2018_-_2019]]</ref>
  
 
The state Constitution of Massachusetts, like all of the other 50 states, acknowledges God or our Creator or the ''Sovereign Ruler of the Universe''.  It says:
 
The state Constitution of Massachusetts, like all of the other 50 states, acknowledges God or our Creator or the ''Sovereign Ruler of the Universe''.  It says:

Revision as of 19:31, February 4, 2020

Massachusetts
Capital Boston
Nickname The Bay State
Official Language English
Governor Charlie Baker, R
Senator Ed Markey, Democratic
(202) 224-2742
Contact
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democratic
(202) 224-4543
Contact
Population 6.745 million
Ratification of Constitution/or statehood February 6, 1788 (6th)
Flag of Massachusetts Motto: "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" (By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Its capital city is Boston. The name is derived from the Indian tribe that lived there, the "Massachusett". It is one of four states officially known as "commonwealths"; there are no practical differences between a "commonwealth" and a "state". It is well known for being a bastion of American liberalism and is known, along with California and New York, for being one of the "bluest" of blue states.

In December, 2015, Massachusetts was ranked first in a survey of the best states to live in.[1] A survey in 2019 shows an 0.1% increase in population, for a ranking of about 37.[2]

The state Constitution of Massachusetts, like all of the other 50 states, acknowledges God or our Creator or the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe. It says:

We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain and establish the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

History

Massachusetts was first settled by the Pilgrims who emigrated from England on the Mayflower in 1620 and founded a settlement at Plymouth, and soon afterward by the much larger group the Puritans, who founded the "Massachusetts Bay Colony". Both groups came to America seeking religious freedom.

Harvard College was founded in 1638 making Boston the intellectual center of New England

The colony was a major center of the American Revolution, as events such as the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party helped to create a desire for national independence among the Americans. The first battles of the war were fought on April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord; the first great American victory was the expulsion of the British from Boston on "Evacuation Day," March 17, 1776.

Shortly after the war ended, tax protesters in the western part of the state revolted in Shays' Rebellion, a major factor leading to demands for a stronger national government at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783 and ratified the Constitution on February 6, 1788.

During the 1800s, Massachusetts was marked by increasing industrialization, including the founding of textile mills in towns such as Lowell. Important historical figures during this time included Horace Mann, an important educational reformer, and Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, two of the main contributors to the Transcendental movement.

In the 1900s, Massachusetts moved from a factory-based economy to a more service-based economy, sparked by growth in its local colleges and universities as well as by a collapse in the textile industry during the 1920s. This encouraged increased suburbanization, leading to the current demographic situation in which the population is concentrated in suburbs around the city of Boston. In 1987, the state received federal highway funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, known colloquially as the Big Dig. The $14.7 billion grant is the largest federal highway project ever approved.

Politics

Massachusetts was home of the Kennedy family, with President John Kennedy, Attorney general and later New York Senator Robert Kennedy, and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, who was the third longest-serving Senator in U.S. history. During the 2004 Presidential Election the Democratic super-majority in the state legislature blocked the Republican Governor Mitt Romney from appointing an interim senator should John Kerry be elected President. The legislature changed the law back again after Ted Kennedy's death, allowing Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, to appoint a temporary replacement for Kennedy. He chose former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk. Kirk did not seek a full term of his own, and a special election was held on January 19, 2010.

Republican State Senator Scott Brown pulled a major upset, defeating Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley in the election. Brown rode on a wave of voter anger at President Obama and his health care overhaul and won by a 52%-47% margin.[3]

Although once a bastion of social conservatism (the term "Banned in Boston" is still in widespread use)[4] Massachusetts is known as one of the most Catholic and most liberal states. It is the most populous state to have all-Democratic congressional representation. In the 1980s Republicans called it "Taxachusetts" because of its high tax rate, which has since been lowered by a series of Republican governors in the 1990s and 2000s (William Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift and Mitt Romney); they were among the most liberal Republican governors in the country.[5]

Its current U.S. Senators are Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, who defeated Scott Brown's re-election bid in 2010.

The current governor is Charlie Baker, a Republican, who took office in early 2015.

Baker's predecessor was Deval L. Patrick, who was the first Democrat to take the office in 16 years, and the first African American to win the post.[6][7] He was elected in 2006 over Republican and former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey,[8] is A strong liberal in the state that legalized homosexual marriage, Patrick signed a bill which allowed out-of-state gay couples to marry in Massachusetts. In a speech afterward, Patrick was recorded openly mocking gay marriage opponents by stating, "In five years now, ... the sky has not fallen, the earth has not opened to swallow us all up."[9] Patrick did not run for re-election in 2014.

Massachusetts is the home of Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and John F. Kennedy.

Massachusetts has been a blue state in presidential elections since 1928 except when it favored Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Wilson Reagan both terms. In the 1972 Presidential election it was the only state (along with the District of Columbia) to support George McGovern over Richard Nixon. Though its congressional and legislative delegations have been almost entirely Democtratic for decades, Massachusetts often elects Republican Governors.

In 2012, an Elementary school in Bellingham, MA attempted to take out the word, "God" from the song, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood for a school concert. The attempt failed, as parents in the community complained. [1]

Elected Officials

Federal

Statewide

Notes and references

  1. ↑ http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/11/23/most-livable-states/
  2. ↑ State_population_changes,_2018_-_2019
  3. ↑ See statistical analysis of 2010 vote
  4. ↑ http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Massachusetts/id/1896007
  5. ↑ http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Massachusetts/id/1896007
  6. ↑ http://www.mass.gov/
  7. ↑ http://www.nndb.com/gov/911/000051758/
  8. ↑ http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/governor/patrick/
  9. ↑ https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/07/31/massachusetts-gov-patrick-signs-allowing-gay-marriage-non-residents

See also


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States of the USA
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