USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 3 > Part 33
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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
SETTLEMENT (1781 - 1789)
Agriculture continued to be the principal industry, except in the coast towns, which devoted their energies to shipbuild- ing, manufactures and trade. The agricultural section of the community, however, was not so stable as in the earlier part of the century. Land ownership was frequently sought, not for settlement, but for speculation. Speculation in land values was developed in part by the rapid rise in prices caused by monetary inflation. In many cases of the land transfers, no longer did the qualifications of personal character, religious conformity, and interest in permanent ownership prevail which had governed the earliest settlements. As early as 1725 the policy of distributing new lands only to settlers began to de- cline. Entire townships were sold to grantees whose chief interest was to resell at a profit. Many farmers, particularly in the central and western parts of the Province, moved two or three times during their lifetime, pioneering in the hope of making an added profit by bringing new land under culti- vation. After the Revolution, the state showed a liberal policy in distributing vacant lands. A growing population also pressed upon common lands which lay roundabout the town settlements ; and these were divided up for individual owner- ship.
A township settlement was made up of from fifty to one hundred farms. At the center was the country store, where trade was largely transacted through barter. Here were brought the staple articles which could be spared from the farmer's yield, and in return exchanged for cloth, crockery, salt, molasses, sugar, and rum or other liquors. In turn the storekeeper sent at stated intervals the farm products which he had received, to Boston or other ports where they supplied the non-farming population, or became a part of the commercial exports.
METHODS OF FARMING (1750 - 1790)
Little progress was made in the latter half of the eight- eenth century. A competent observer, writing in 1785, noted that farms were too large to secure the best cultivation; the farmer had too little capital, and there was too little fertiliz-
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FARM LABOR
ing; "worse ploughing is nowhere to be seen." Indian corn was still the principal farm crop, using two-thirds of the cultivated area, followed by rye and oats which together took in about a fourth. But little wheat was grown in the eastern part of the state, and for wheat flour and bread the population was largely dependent upon imports from Pennsylvania, Mary- land and Virginia.
By the end of the century, wheat bread practically disap- peared from farmers' tables through most of New England, and this was true even for the well-to-do population in the coast towns during the Revolution, when commerce was in- terrupted. Rye flour and Indian meal was the standard bread of farm families. Barley was exported to the middle states where it was brewed for beer. There was also an export market, when commerce permitted, for cider and cider brandy, as well as apples to the West Indies.
Much of the farm land was devoted to the growing of hay for feeding of livestock. According to Bidwell, the historian of agriculture in New England, the equipment of livestock on a typical farm in eastern Massachusetts in the latter part of the eighteenth century was one or two horses, one or two yoke of oxen, fifteen head of cattle, about the same number of swine, and on some farms ten to twenty sheep. During the Revolution, the flocks of sheep were increased, due to the need of wool for clothing, when importation from Europe was interrupted. There was also an increasing demand for pork products to supply the fishing fleets. Oxen were still the principal draft animals on the farm, far exceeding horses in. number.
FARM LABOR (1780 - 1800)
Labor on the farm was largely done by the owner and his family. In the summer, outside labor, if available, was fre- quently employed. Before the war a farm wage was two shillings per day, and in winter, one shilling, three pence. These rates, however, were greatly advanced during the Rev- olution owing to the depreciation of paper money. Farm implements and tools were still crude. The two-wheeled cart was used in summer and the sled in winter. Threshing of grain was done with the hand flail.
In the early years of the war, when Massachusetts was the
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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
seat of hostilities, farm labor was especially scarce. A large part of the vigorous male population was called to arms, and much of the farm labor was carried on by women and children. In November, 1776, one fourth of all able-bodied males, six- teen years of age and upwards, who were not already in military service, were ordered to be in readiness to march for service of three months. Boys at the age of fifteen were regarded as "seasoned continentals." The wife of John Adams in 1779 wrote her husband that more than half of those be- tween the ages of sixteen and fifty in the town of Braintree were in service; and she patriotically added: "If it is neces- sary to make any more drafts upon us, the women must reap the harvests. I am willing to do my part; I believe I could gather corn and husk it, but I should make a poor hand dig- ging potatoes."
After peace was established, greater attention was given to improving agricultural methods. In 1792, the Massa- chusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture was incorporated, with the specified objects of holding exhibitions and improve- ment of agricultural tools and breeds of stock. Shortly after- wards (1794) the Middlesex Agricultural Society was formed, the first county association in the United States.
DEARTH OF MANUFACTURES (1775)
Progress was made in various branches of manufactures during the Revolutionary period. Cut off from foreign sup- plies by the hostile navy of England, it was necessary to pro- duce domestic goods to meet the wants of the people. Particularly active were those industries which had been re- stricted by the regulations of the British government. Among those industries frowned upon by England was the colonial manufacture of finished products of iron and steel, paper, hats and woolen cloth,-all necessities of life which the colo- nist could not well sacrifice. Resentment had led the colonists to make non-importation agreements under which they refused to buy goods of English manufacture. At the Harvard com- mencement in 1770, the graduating class appeared in black cloth of New England make.
It would be tedious to describe the changes which took place in all the different branches of manufacturing industry
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MANUFACTURERS
in this period; but a summarized account of a few of the most important will show that the recovery from war was rapid.
IRON INDUSTRY (1775 - 1789)
The opportunity for developing the iron industry was lim- ited. In small areas, in the eastern part of the Province, depos- its of bog iron ore existed; and in the hill towns of the western counties were deposits of brown hematite and magnetic ores which were worked. The few foundries already established were converted to the casting of cannon, shot and shell, and new ones were soon established to meet the urgent demands of war. These were small affairs, few employing more than a dozen men. The charcoal which fed the furnaces was made from the neighboring pine trees.
Springfield began the manufacture of metal goods, including firearms, and laid the foundation of an industry which has been preeminent to the present time.
In the eastern part of the state were rolling and slitting mills for the making of plates and rods for nails, hoops, tires, and sheet-iron. Naileries, for the manufacture of nails were scattered throughout the Commonwealth; and in one of these, at Westborough, Eli Whitney, afterwards famous for the invention of the cotton gin, was busily engaged during the Revolution.
In the small town of Sutton, south of Worcester, were 7 trip-hammers, 5 scythe factories, 1 axe factory and several naileries. Before the end of the century Plymouth and Bristol counties, in the southeastern part of the state, contained 16 foundries, 20 forges, and 7 rolling and slitting mills. Paul Revere was the proprietor of a foundry in Boston, making cannon and bells. While all these establishments were small, and the total number and capital engaged in the industry not large, the industry was sufficiently advanced in 1789 to claim protection in the tariff act of that year, in the belief that Massachusetts would take a leading place in the manufacture of iron and steel products.
CLOTH, LEATHER AND PAPER MANUFACTURES (1781 - 1800)
In 1786 the first jenny and stock card manufactured in the United States appeared at East Bridgewater; and in the fol-
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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
lowing year, a company was organized at Beverly to manu- facture cotton cloth with an imported jenny and carding machine. A little later (1793) the first factory to produce woolen cloth was erected at Byfield. Woolen factories were also established at Watertown and in Stockbridge in the western part of the State.
The manufacture of leather and shoes was well established before the Revolution, particularly in Essex County. The hemlock forests made tanning feasible, and tanneries were found throughout the State. Lynn, however, early became foremost in the manufacture of shoes, followed by Boston, Quincy, and Reading. Shoes were made in households and small shops. By 1795, there were in Lynn alone, 200 master workmen, and 600 journeymen and apprentices. The product was more than enough to supply the home market; and at the end of the week the shoes were taken on horseback to Boston or Salem, from which towns they could be more widely dis- tributed.
At the outbreak of the war, three small paper mills existed in Massachusetts. English manufacturers had opposed their establishment, and there was difficulty in sparsely populated towns in collecting rags from which paper was made. In a Boston newspaper in 1769, an advertisement announced that "the bell-cart will go through Boston before the end of the month, to collect rags for the paper-mill at Milton, when all people that will encourage the paper manufactory may dispose of them."
In less than twenty years the number had grown to twenty, the larger number being located on the Charles River. The manufacture of wall paper and paper hangings began shortly after the Revolution, and so successful was this new fashion of house decoration that the product was marketed in other states.
MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES (1775 - 1789)
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Boston shared with Philadelphia the honor of leadership in the printing industry. The Stamp Act (1765 - 1766) and the act taxing paper (1767) were designed to obtain a revenue from printers and the press; but this repressive legislation directed against the spread of knowledge inflamed the spirit of revolt and tended
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REVIVAL OF COMMERCE
to unite the printers with the ministry as ardent defenders of liberty in the internal affairs of the colony. In 1775, in all the colonies thirty-seven newspapers were published; seven of them were issued in Massachusetts, (five were in Boston, one in Salem and one in Newburyport.) The military events of the Revolution and the rapid political changes associated with the establishment of new state governments and the Confederation of the states, stimulated the demand for news; and the number of newspapers rapidly grew after independ- ence was declared.
For one of the most important necessities of life, salt, Mas- sachusetts had been dependent upon foreign countries. Be- fore the Revolution salt was imported from Spain, Portugal, France, and the West Indies. During the war, there was great scarcity, and many small works were started on the coast producing salt from, sea water, either by solar evaporation or by boiling. The industry thus established reached consid- erable proportions and was protected by the tariff act of 1789.
Soap and candles, from the beginning of colonial settle- ment, had been a household manufacture; but in addition imports came from abroad. The war led to the growth of this manufacture, and many small shops were established which ultimately competed in foreign markets. These pro- ducts also received protection under the first tariff act.
Glass making was also undertaken. The few attempts made before the Revolution were failures; but in 1787 a company was chartered in Boston and successfully manufactured crown window glass. In Boston and its neighborhood there were rope walks, sugar refineries, and also a chocolate mill. The manufacture of combs engaged the activities of several small factories in Leominster and West Newbury as well as in Boston. By 1789, Massachusetts was exporting brick.
REVIVAL OF COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE (1775 - 1787)
Although the commercial regulations of England restricted American commerce with the West Indies, and the policies of France and Spain placed obstacles to freedom of trade with their colonies, Massachusetts enterprise did not abandon the sea during the Revolution.
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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
During the war, her fishermen and sea captains turned their talents to privateering. "Lines and tubs had given place to cutlasses and swivels; out of the sounding leads bullets had been melted; the hold of a vessel, once filled with salt and fish, furnished commodious quarters for a score or two of fighting seamen." When the war was over, the coast towns naturally took up again their former industries of fishing and voyaging. By the treaty of 1783, through the staunch efforts of John Adams, the people of the United States were assured the right to fish on the Grand Banks, and in all other places where they formerly had been accustomed to fish. Within a few years, the tonnage engaged in the cod fishery was as great as before the Revolution.
The whale fishery was not so fortunate. The use of tallow candles was spreading, and the English market was closed to whale oil by prohibitive duties. Although the whaling fleets of Nantucket and New Bedford made notable voyages to the North and South Seas, their profits diminished and the industry did not regain its former prominence until a later period.
The restless activity of Massachusetts vessel owners and captains reached out into new parts of the world to seek profitable ventures. Barred from the British West Indies, they sought the markets of the nearby colonies of Holland, Spain and France, for the sale of surplus fish and lumber. Voyages to northern and southern Europe were resumed. More important than all was the beginning of commercial intercourse with China which later brought fame and wealth to the shipping of Salem and Boston. In 1785, Elias Hasket Derby despatched the Grand Turk to India and China; and in 1789, of fifteen American ships at Canton, five hailed from Salem.
BEGINNING OF BANKING (1781 - 1784)
During this period the economic organization of society was strengthened by the establishment of commercial banks. The earlier so-called banks, as the Land Bank and the Silver Bank of 1740, were simply public agencies to provide a cir- culating medium in the form of paper money as a substitute for barter in commodities. The need of these had formerly been urged by the farming communities who found it difficult
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METHODS OF BANKING BUSINESS
to carry on trade without a currency. No lack of paper-money currency was experienced in the years of the Revolution; but, with expanding business activity, merchants and manufac- turers were often in need of temporary credit, because of the seasonal character of business.
In 1784, the Massachusetts Bank was established in Boston, the second bank to be organized in the new nation. The first institution was the Bank of North America, organized in Philadelphia, and also chartered in Massachusetts in 1782 and a branch established in Boston. The Bank of North America was primarily organized to aid the government in financing its precarious needs. The Massachusetts Bank was promoted to aid business. Its capital was $300,000, subscribed for by the substantial business men of Boston. The shares were placed at $500 each, thus enlisting in the investment of capital only the richer citizens of the community.
METHODS OF BANKING BUSINESS
The details of this early organization throw light upon current business habits and activities. Five officers were em- ployed : cashier, accountant, teller, sub-teller, and porter or waiter, on salaries ranging from $1,000 to $200 and lodging. A "manufactory" near the Common was purchased for $4,000 and remodeled, a special committee of the directors being ap- pointed to prepare a vault. This was secured by two locks and keys, one of which was kept by the cashier, and the other by the president. A "middling sized" bell was also hung to be used in case of fire or attempted robbery; and one of the directors was asked to request a friend in Russia to purchase an iron fence to be placed in front of the bank.
The accountant was authorized to go to Philadelphia to acquaint himself with the system of bookkeeping used by the Bank of North America.
The bank was opened daily from 9 A. M. to 1 P. M. and from 3 P. M. to 5 P. M. Five directors met twice a week to consider applications for loans. The smallest loan was limited to $100 and the maximum to $3,000. A loan might be granted upon a single name if secured by deposited collat- eral, either in the form of merchandise or securities; or it might be made upon personal credit of two persons of "ample
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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
property." If the former, the loan might run for 60 days; if the latter, only for 30 days. The rate of interest was uni- formly six per cent.
The passing on an application for a loan was as formal as an election to a learned society. A ballot box with a hole in the top, and white and black balls were used; and a single black ball negatived the decision. Renewals were frowned upon, but it was difficult to enforce prompt payment. Prompt- ness in meeting financial obligations had not yet become a habit, and insistence by a bank was regarded as a hardship. Finally the directors voted that delinquents be informed that, if they did not pay their notes when due, their names would be posted "in the most conspicuous place in the Bank," and that henceforth they would be denied credit for from four to eight months, according as they were endorsers or signers of the notes.
Frequently the loaning power of the bank was exhausted, and public notice was given that no applications would be received during that week; or that, if the full amount of loans desired could not be granted, all would be scaled down a quar- ter or one half. In this way no favoritism was shown. At first the depositors were few; the receiving of deposits was re- garded as a favor to the depositor rather than a source of profit to the bank, and a charge of ten pence was made on each $100 deposited. After a few years this charge was aban- doned, as deposits and the use of checks became more common.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ADAMS, HENRY .- History of the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison (9 vols., 1889-1891)-Some discussion of New England conditions.
BAGNALL, WILLIAM R .- Textile Industries of the United States (Vol. I, Cambridge, Houghton, Mifflin, 1893).
BISHOP, JAMES LEANDER .- A History of American Manufactures (3 vols., Phila., Young, 1866).
BULLOCK, CHARLES J .- "Historical Sketch of the Finances and Financial Policy of Massachusetts from 1780 to 1905" (American Economic Association, Publications, Third Series, Vol. VIII, No. 2, May, 1907, pp. 5-22)-Deals particularly with taxation and debt.
CLARK, VICTOR SELDEN .- History of Manufacture in the United States 1607-1860 (Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1916)-Chapter IX, pp. 215-232. Deals with the Revolutionary period.
DEWEY, DAVIS RICH .- Financial History of the United States (N. Y., Longmans, Green, 1903).
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
FAULKNER, HAROLD U .- American Economic History (1924) -Chapter VIII, pp. 160-187.
FELT, JOSEPH B .- "Statistics of Taxation in Massachusetts, including Valuation and Population" (Amer. Statistical Association, Collections, Vol. I, Part III, 1847, pp. 386-489)-Contains summary of the various acts of legislation.
FELT, JOSEPH B .- An Historical Account of Massachusetts Currency (Bos- ton, Perkins & Marvin, 1839)-See pp. 161-209.
HILL, HAMILTON A .- "The Trade, Commerce, and Navigation of Boston, 1780-1880" (JUSTIN WINSOR, editor, Memorial History of Boston, Boston, Osgood, 1882-1886)-See Vol. IV, pp. 195-213.
HILL, WILLIAM .- "The First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States" (Amer. Economic Association, Publications, Vol. VIII, No. 6, pp. 66-75, 134-143).
JOHNSON, EMORY RICHARD, and others .- History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States (2 vols., Washington, Carnegie Insti- tution, 1922)-See Vol. I, chap. VIII, pp. 132-144, for the Revolutionary period.
KEIR, MALCOLM .- Manufacturing Industries in America (1920)-See pp. 96-113 for iron and steel industry; pp. 173-181, wool manufacture ; pp. 218-223, show industry.
McMASTER, JOHN BACH .- A History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War (8 vols., N. Y. Appleton, 1884- 1913)-Some attention to foreign commerce.
MASSACHUSETTS BANK .- MSS. records in the Baker Library of the Har- vard Graduate School of Business Administration. These records include the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors.
MIXTER, C. W .- "The Eighteenth Century Record of the Evils of Depre- ciation" (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1895-1896, Vol. X, pp. 140- 243).
PITKIN, TIMOTHY .- A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America; including also an Account of Banks, Manufactures and Internal Trade and Improvements (New Haven, Durrie & Peck, 1835).
SUMNER, WILLIAM GRAHAM .- "History of Banking in the United States" (A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations, 4 vols., N. Y., Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, 1896)-See Vol. I. WEEDEN, WILLIAM BABCOCK .- Economic and Social History of New Eng- land, 1620-1789 (2 vols., Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1891)-See Vol. II, pp. 769-875. This history is based upon an intensive investigation of original sources.
CHAPTER XIII
MASSACHUSETTS AND THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF 1787
BY ARTHUR N. HOLCOMBE, PH. D. Professor of Government, Harvard University
NEED FOR A MORE PERFECT UNION (1783 - 1787)
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts was one of the lead- ers in the movement to form a more perfect Union. It was driven into this movement partly by causes which operated upon all the States alike, and partly by causes peculiar to itself or to the North-Eastern States which shared its special interests.
The general causes of dissatisfaction with the Union under the Articles of Confederation are well known. Washington, when about to resign the command of the Continental Army in 1783, addressed a circular letter to the governors of the States, which may perhaps be best described as his first Fare- well Address. He himself referred to it as his "legacy" to his country. Without dwelling overmuch upon the defects of the existing government, he set forth four things which he declared to be "essential to the well-being, I may venture to say, to the existence of the United States, as an independ- ent power." They were: first, an indissoluble union of the States under one federal head; secondly, a sacred regard to public justice; thirdly, a proper peace establishment; and fourthly, a pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States.
Washington warned his fellow countrymen in the most solemn manner against the dire consequences of continued failure to maintain the authority of the general government, to pay the debt incurred in the war, to provide for the com- mon defense, and to put the general welfare above private and local interests. During the next six years, which John Fiske aptly termed "the critical period of American history," Wash-
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ington returned again and again in his correspondence to the need for a more perfect Union. Writing to John Jay, August 1, 1786, he declared: "I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation without having lodged somewhere a power, which will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as the authority of the State governments extends over the special States." The evils which moved Washington to such pro- found discontent were universal-they were felt no less keenly in Massachusetts than in Virginia.
SPECIAL INTERESTS OF MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts, however, had special reasons for desiring a more perfect Union. In the first place, her shipowners wanted a navigation act that would secure for American vessels the coastwise carrying trade among the several states, and in addition as much of the international carrying trade as possible. As the leading ship-owning State, Massachusetts had the most to gain from the adoption of a national navi- gation act. If the regulation of navigation were left perma- nently to the States, there was grave danger that Massachu- setts shipping would be worse off than under British rule before the Revolution. Yet no satisfactory navigation act could be passed without a better organized and more powerful general government.
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