Massachusetts

Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the United States of America. Its official name is The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its nickame is the Bay State.

Its U.S. postal abbreviation is MA and its traditional abbreviation is Mass.

Several ships have been named USS Massachusetts in honor of this state.

The Commonwealth

Even though Massachusetts is named a "Commonwealth" it is not a commonwealth in the sense that non-state U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico are. "The Commonwealth" is a proper name that refers to Massachusetts.

History

The colony was named after the indigenous population, the Massachusett, whose name means "a large hill place". The Pilgrims established their settlement at Plymouth in 1620, arriving on the Mayflower. They were soon followed by the Puritans, who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Massachusetts was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. Although the Puritans came to Massachusetts for religious freedom, they were not tolerant of any other religion than theirs. People such as Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams, and Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts and went South because of the Puritans' lack of religious tolerance. Williams ended up founding the colony of Rhode Island and Hooker founded Connecticut.

On February 9, 1775 the British Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in rebellion and sent additional troops to restore order.

An African-American named Crispus Attucks from Framingham was one of the first Americans killed during the American Revolution, in Boston on March 5, 1770, at an event that has come to be called the Boston Massacre.

On February 6, 1788 Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

On March 15, 1820 the area of Maine was separated from Massachusetts, of which it had been a non-contiguous part, and entered the Union as a State in its own right.

According to a 1790 census, Massachusetts had a zero population of slaves.

Law and Government

The capital of Massachusetts is Boston and the governor of the state is Mitt Romney (Republican). The state does not maintain an official governor's residence. Massachusetts's two U.S. senators are Edward Kennedy (Democrat) and John Kerry (Democrat); as of the 2001 redistricting, Massachusetts has ten seats in the United States House of Representatives. The state legislature is formally styled the "Great and General Court of the Commonwealth"; the highest court is the "Supreme Judicial Court".

The laws of Massachusetts are created by the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the commonwealth's elected bicameral legislative body, and are interpreted by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. They are made up of 282 chapters.

Massachusetts law maintains a distinction between "cities" and "towns"; the largest town in population is Framingham. Politically, the only difference between a town and a city is that a town is governed under the Town Meeting or Representative Town Meeting form of government, whereas a city has a city council (and may or may not have a mayor, a city manager, or both). This distinction dates to the 1820s; prior to that, all municipalities were governed by Town Meeting. There are now a number of municipalities which are legally cities and thus have city councils, but retained the word "town" in their names, including Agawam, Methuen, Watertown, Weymouth, and Westfield. These cities are legally styled "the City Known as the Town of X". Massachusetts has a very limited home rule mechanism; in order to exercise jurisdiction outside of these bounds, a municipality must petition the General Court for special legislation giving it that authority.

Massachusetts municipalities are subject to a budgetary law known as "Proposition 2½", by which they may not increase expenditures by more than 2½% per annum without the approval of the voters in a plebiscite.

Massachusetts has a reputation as being a politically liberal state, and often used as an archetype of liberalism in the U.S. It is the home of the Kennedy family of political fame, and routinely votes for the Democratic Party in federal elections. As of 2004, it is by far the largest U.S. state to be represented by only one political party in U.S. Congress. Although Republicans have held the governor's office continously from 1991 to the present, many of these (especially William Weld, the first of the recent lineage of Republican governors) are considered among the most moderate or progressive Republicans in the nation.

During the 2004 Presidential Election, Massachusetts was the target of many regionalist attacks during the campaign trail. When informed that the Democratic National Convention would be in Boston, House Majority Leader Dick Armey remarked, "If I were a Democrat, I suspect I'd feel a heck of a lot more comfortable in Boston than, say, America." While campaigning in the western part of the country, President Bush would often jab, "My opponent says he's in touch with the West, but sometimes I think he means Western Massachusetts." The stump speech that he used at many of his campaign stops included many such disparaging remarks directed at Massachusetts and New England in general.

Geography

Massachusetts is bordered on the north by New Hampshire and Vermont, on the west by New York, on the south by Connecticut and Rhode Island, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. The islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket lie off the southeast coast. Boston is the largest city; however, most of the population of the Boston metropolitan area (approximately 5,800,000) does not live in the city.

Massachusetts is known as the Bay State because of the several large bays that give its coastline its distinctive shape: Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay on the state's east coast, and Buzzards Bay to the south. A few cities and towns on the Massachusetts–Rhode Island border are also adjacent to Narragansett Bay.

Economy

Massachusetts total gross state product for 1999 was $262 billion, placing it 11th in the nation. As of 2002, its Per Capita Personal Income was $39,244 or third in the nation.

Its agricultural outputs are seafood, nursery stock, dairy products, cranberries, and vegetables. Its industrial outputs are machinery, electric equipment, scientific instruments, printing, and publishing. Massachusetts produces most of the cranberries sold in the U.S. Other sectors vital to the Massachusetts economy include higher education, health care, financial services and tourism.

Demographics

The population of Massachusetts (According to 2003 Census Bureau estimates) is: 6,433,422.

The racial makeup of the state is:

81.9% White
6.8% Hispanic
5.4% Black
3.8% Asian
0.2% American Indian
2.3% Mixed race
The five largest ancestries in Massachusetts are Irish (22.5%), Italian (13.5%), English (11.4%), French (8%), German (5.9%).

Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Massachusetts are:

Roman Catholic – 54%
Protestant – 27%
Other Christian – 1%
Other Religions – 5% (Mostly Jewish)
Non-Religious – 8%
The three largest Protestant denominations in Massachusetts are: Baptist (4% of total state population), Episcopalian (3%), Methodist & Congregationalist (tied 2%).