USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 8
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50
Massachusetts: The General Background
ships faded into history and legend, but a supply of fluid capital had been created which poured into Western railroads as well as Massachusetts industry.
The industrial evolution of Massachusetts is the economic history of the United States in miniature. Manufacturing, like population, con- tinued to be drawn by the magnetic attraction of the West, but in many fields Massachusetts held undisputed pre-eminence until the end of the century. More than one-third of all the woolens of the nation were produced in this State, and in the eighties Fall River led the field in cotton manufacture, Lawrence, Lowell, and New Bedford closely following. Partly because of its climate New Bedford became famous for its fine grade of cotton goods, while the northern New England mills developed the heavier fabrics. By 1890 Lawrence had become the third most im- portant city in America in the manufacture of woolens, and Lowell was a close fourth.
The boot and shoe industry had already made considerable progress, but as a result of technological advances in power manufacture the im- portance of the industry increased tremendously. In 1866, for example, Lynn possessed 220 factories whose annual output was $12,000,000, while the State output was $53,000,000, increasing to $88,000,000 by 1870. In 1890 Lynn's industry alone was evaluated at $26,000,000, and the extent to which the manufacture of boots and shoes was concentrated in Massachusetts is evidenced by the fact that Brockton, Haverhill, Marlborough, and Worcester were all leading shoe centers. Despite the rivalry of New York and the Middle West, Massachusetts resisted serious competition until 19co, by which date the State was producing almost fifty per cent of the nation's output in this field.
Considerable success had been achieved in the manufacture of ma- chinery, partly as a by-product of industrial eminence. Power looms to feed its textile mills were locally produced. Shoe machinery was made at an immense plant in Beverly and smaller ones at Boston and Waltham. Paper mill machinery was constructed at Lowell, Pittsfield, Lawrence, and Worcester. As competition developed at points nearer the source of raw material, however, the metal industry underwent a radical change. Lighter grades of machines, tools, and mechanical equipment were found to be more profitable, and native Yankee ingenuity developed a fine skill in their production.
Industry and the rise of cities attracted scores of workers who sought peace and security in the New Canaan. The immigrant invasion which resulted changed the social complexion of the State; sixty-six per cent
51
Enough of Its History to Explain Its People
of all the white stock in Massachusetts contains a foreign strain. Before the Civil War immigration was drawn largely from western Europe, but beginning with the decade of the eighties the majority came from the southern and eastern sections of the Continent, with the result that al- most every racial group is represented in the population. The most rigid type of immigration control was in effect up to 1849, and Massachusetts contained a relatively small racial admixture; today it has more foreigners than any other State except New York. French-Canadians, Greeks, Poles, Czechoslovakians, Russians, Finns, Letts, Lithuanians, and Turks live side by side with the descendants of Bay Colony settlers. Many new strands have been added to Anglo-Saxon culture. Slavic, Semitic, and Celtic influences have permeated Massachusetts thought, enriching folkways, enlivening speech, and giving a new perspective to graphic art, music, and literature. The effect of immigration may also be traced in the new direction of the labor movement, as well as in an increase of the Cath- olic and Jewish religious groups.
The establishment of factories and the concentration of population was paralleled by a growth in workers' organizations. Trade unions after the Civil War grew from seventeen to forty-two in number, and in many cases the State was the focal point of their growth. Organization of the boot and shoe industry proceeded quickly, largely because labor and not machinery was the important element. Organization of the textile in- dustry was not so simple; here the lower skills demanded of the workers retarded unionization. The National Cotton Mule Spinners were or- ganized in 1889, but it was not until the United Textile Workers came upon the scene in 1901 that any semblance of success was achieved. American society was unprepared for such an economic revolution, social relations were severely strained, and the latter nineteenth century was marked by industrial strife. Illinois had its Haymarket, Pennsylvania its Homestead, and Massachusetts its Lawrence (1912). To contem- poraries it seemed as though the long-cherished ideals of American life and institutions were disintegrating, but calmer reflection indicated that this was merely another stage in the evolution of industrial society.
As a result of organized effort many gains accrued to labor and society as a whole. A department of labor and industry was established (1912), and legislation was adopted for the protection of health, the investigation of industrial diseases, and the recognition of occupational hazards. Under the new law (1933) a person might no longer be coerced into an agree- ment not to join a union as a condition of employment. Massachusetts law today requires that employers who advertise for labor during a strike
52
Massachusetts: The General Background
must state specifically that a state of strike exists. No woman or child may be employed for more than forty-eight hours a week, and children under fourteen are forbidden to work at all. Minors in the age group of fourteen to sixteen years must complete the sixth grade of elementary school, and may not work more than six days a week or eight hours a day.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century the influx of immigration and the growing development of industry brought about corresponding changes in government. The New England town meeting, generally economical, simple, and efficient, did not lend itself to this hurried ex- pansion and was found inadequate to meet the problems of urban life. A constitutional amendment of 1820 had given the General Court the right to charter cities, and by 1885 there were twenty-three cities con- taining sixty per cent of the population. The commission form of gov- ernment, which places all phases of city government in the hands of five persons, though tried, was never successful: Gloucester, Haverhill, Lynn, Lawrence, and Salem all attempted it at one time or another.
Education experienced a revival after the Civil War. The rise of the cities, now the dominant factor in American life, presented new problems which it was hoped education would solve. The movement initiated by Horace Mann in the earlier decades of the nineteenth century was com- pleted, and the scope of the public school system expanded, largely by the increase in the number of free public high schools. But it was in the upper levels of education that the results of economic maturity were most apparent. Wealth created by industrialism supplied the endowments necessary for the establishment of new institutions. In an era notable for the founding of colleges and universities throughout the country - many as a result of State aid - fifteen were founded in Massachusetts (1863- 1927). In an era in which American education achieved international recognition because of its great educators and administrators, Andrew Dixon White of Cornell, James McCosh of Princeton, John Bascomb of Wisconsin, Noah Porter of Yale, Massachusetts produced four: Charles William Eliot of Harvard, Granville Stanley Hall of Clark, Francis A. Walker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Alice Free- man (Palmer) of Wellesley. The emancipation of women, quickened by modern conditions, was furthered by opportunities for advanced study, and the contribution of Massachusetts was distinguished. Wellesley was founded in 1870, Smith College (Northampton) in 1871, Radcliffe (Cambridge) in 1879, and Simmons (Boston) in 1899. Facilities for preparation in engineering and related subjects were provided by the creation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston) and the
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53
Enough of Its History to Explain Its People
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester), both established in 1865. Responding to the demands of urban conditions, seventy-five cities and towns established industrial schools. Latterly educational facilities have been developed to reach people outside the public school system and the universities. Many of the larger trade unions offer a variety of courses for workers and their families, and the University Extension Division of the Department of Education has supplied an increasing number with vocational, technical, and cultural training.
An important adjunct of the educational system in Massachusetts is the library. Not only is there a free public library in every city and town (since 1926), but the State has many important special libraries and col- lections. There are few places with more varied materials for the study of American history; bibliophiles and historians, as well as others less fervent, make use of its varied treasures. The American Antiquarian Society (Worcester), rich in newspapers, periodicals, and manuscripts, is amply supplemented by the Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston), the Bostonian Society, the Boston Athenaeum, the Essex Institute (Salem), and the Boston Public Library, the last possessing a significant assortment of Americana, including the private libraries of Thomas Prince, John Adams, Theodore Parker, and Thomas Wentworth Hig- ginson. In addition, the college and university libraries with their specialized interests, seldom duplicated, make Massachusetts a State with unusual opportunities for research and study.
Simultaneously with industrialism came a renewal of intellectual speculation; science was stimulated by fresh winds of doctrine from Europe and endowments of industrialists. Education and science were electrified by the concept of development which coursed through America in the period after the Civil War. Darwin, Spencer, Tyndall, and Huxley became symbols of scientific achievement here as well as abroad. Massa- chusetts furnished one of the leading defenders of the disturbing views of Darwin in the person of Asa Gray, Fisher Professor of Botany at Harvard, and also its most eminent opponent, Louis Agassiz. Agassiz, who taught geology and zoology at Harvard, stamped his personality on every scientific movement, and like another Massachusetts man - Benjamin Franklin - was the greatest popularizer of his time. The doctrine of evolution initiated a scientific renaissance in which Massa- chusetts shared. Modern research revived the colonial tradition of scholarship currently typified by two distinguished scientists, James Bryant Conant of Harvard and Karl Taylor Compton of the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology.
54
Massachusetts: The General Background
The industrial trend was not without its effect upon organized religion. European scholarship and the rapid rise of urban communities con- fronted the churches with a changing world, and in this critical period of religious history Massachusetts played a significant rôle. Christian Science, founded by Mary Baker Eddy (Lynn, 1867), provided a refuge for many who were dissatisfied with conventional theological forms. Another vital aspect was the development of social Christianity, which was partly a reaction to an increasing absorption in practical affairs. A declining interest in doctrinal matters was the inevitable consequence of secularism, but social Christianity arose because industrialism presented America with new complexities. The churches tempered this transition stage by a revival of the social gospel emphasizing the intimate relation between religion and life. All denominations awakened to the realization that there was a real connection between slums and morals, and a growing concern with systematic relief was manifested by the clergy. Reform became the current text which was preached with eloquence by many Massachusetts men - Francis G. Peabody, Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School, Phillips Brooks of Trinity Church, Minot Judson Savage of the Church of the Unity, Octavius Brooks Frothingham and William Joseph Potter, leading Unitarian radicals - who successfully emulated such national leaders as Washington Gladden, Lyman Abbott, Josiah Strong, and Cardinal Gibbons. Emphasis on sociology rather than cosmology was a reflection of the scientific temper, which soon became universal, enlisting the efforts of those outside Christianity, notably two Jewish leaders, Charles Fleischer and Solomon Schindler, both rabbis at Temple Israel in Boston. In 1889 the Society of Christian Socialists was founded in Boston for the purpose of awaken- ing 'members of the Christian churches to the fact that the teachings of Jesus Christ lead directly to some specific form or forms of Socialism.'
The development of Massachusetts may be divided into three major periods: from its founding until the election of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency; from 1800 to the Civil War; and from 1865 to the present. The destinies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were moulded by mighty forces, momentarily visible in Massachusetts, which during the first period symbolized the development of the nation. Carver and Bradford, Winthrop and Cotton, the Mathers, Samuel Sewall, and Franklin belong to America; John and Samuel Adams, James Otis, Paul Revere, and John Hancock were the patriots of the Revolution. During the second period this situation slowly changed. Colonial radicals found they had exchanged the interest of British imperialists for the interests of
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Enough of Its History to Explain Its People
Federalist shipowners who, while flying a new flag, shared a like philo- sophy. While the rest of America moved westward to cotton belt and farmland, Massachusetts continued to devote herself to trade and de- veloped a point of view peculiar to New England. A brief interlude of nationalism followed the War of 1812, after which Massachusetts re- verted to a spirit of sectionalism typified by the Hartford Convention (1814), characteristic not only of New England but of the nation. Al- though Federalism disappeared and industry took the place of commerce, the National Republicans and later the Whigs gradually borrowed Federalist doctrine to the end that Massachusetts and New England might endure. The third period ushered in the economic revolution which transformed the American scene. Currents of New England in- dividualism still flow from Massachusetts, typified in recent years by such men as Henry Cabot Lodge and Calvin Coolidge, but such currents are simply tributaries to the main stream. Provincialisms have been dissi- pated in the steam of locomotives and the blast of airplane propellers, while iron and steel labor to bring forth a new nation.
GOVERNMENT
FOR three centuries Massachusetts has been carrying on an experiment as old as human history: the effort of men to govern themselves. One governmental form has succeeded another as each generation, with population increasingly pressing and conditions of living continuously changing, developed new solutions to its governmental problems.
The earliest form of government in Massachusetts was that of Plym- outh Colony. Having no charter, the Pilgrims based their authority upon a patent granted in 1621 to the Plymouth Company, and in 1636 definitely outlined the powers of their officials: the Governor was to be elected annually by the people, and his assistants were to govern and to act as a judiciary. Legislation, however, originated with the people, as all freemen were admitted to the General Court, a condition which existed until 1639, when, because of increased population and migration, deputies were chosen.
The first Massachusetts Colonial charter was given by Charles I in 1628. Later he tried unsuccessfully to have it abrogated. The form of government was different from that of Plymouth in that the first Gov- ernor and assistants were appointed by the Crown. Matthew Craddock, the first Governor, never came to America. Subsequent Governors, however, were elected annually until James II appointed Joseph Dudley in 1685. Sir Edmund Andros, Dudley's appointed successor, essayed to be a vice-regal dictator and was promptly deposed. In the intercharter period which followed, Simon Bradstreet headed the Colony.
The second, or Province Charter, a grant of King William and Queen Mary, arrived in 1692. It brought Plymouth Colony, Maine, and a portion of Nova Scotia under one jurisdiction. It was a far less liberal charter than the first. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and State Secretary were appointed by the Crown. In 1726, King George sent over an explanatory modifying charter which limited the Governor's authority to adjourn the General Court, but made the election of the Speaker sub- ject to the veto of the Governor. Control of money, bills, and the right of electing the councillors curbed somewhat the Governor's immense power. The last General Court held under the Provincial Charter was in 1774.
INDUSTRY EARLY AND LATE
THE geography of Massachusetts is largely responsible for its industry, for it combines water-power with good harborage. Mills and the maritime trades consequently predominate. Once established, the mills grew long after the need for local water-power had disappeared. So, in the pictures that follow, there is an old stone mill and a giant, modern weaving-room. There is boat-building as it was done two hundred years ago and still is done in Essex today. And also there is a picture of the shipyards at Fore River with much modern equipment.
There are also pictures of fishermen and their varied crops, cranberry bogs which need the level, sandy soil of the Cape, clam beds, glass-making which was undertaken at Sandwich where glass was made by a process now lost, and printing which is not an inheritance from the geography of the State, but a result of the solemn studiousness of Boston's earliest settlers which left its mark in generously scattered colleges and printing shops throughout the State.
FORE RIVER SHIPYARD, QUINCY
SHIPYARD, ESSEX
---
HOISTING SAIL
CHAINS WOODS HOLE BUOY YARD
OLD MILL, SUDBURY
byg
'CHARLES W. MORGAN,' NEW BEDFORD
SEEDING CLAMS
CRANBERRY BOG
SANDWICH GLASS
SANDWICH GLASS
₱
NETS DRYING, GLOUCESTER
HERRING RUN, WAREHAM
6
WEAVING
PRINTING
57
Government
In the following period, before the State Constitution was accepted, patriots and a Provincial Congress ran the affairs of State. James Bow- doin and a Council were in charge. The government was the people's own after June, 1774, but there was agitation, particularly from Berk- shire County, to confirm this in a constitution. The General Court of 1777-78 drew up such an instrument making Massachusetts the first State to submit a new constitution to the people, but it was rejected. The citizens properly felt that such a momentous covenant should be drawn by a body elected solely for that purpose and, moreover, the first draft contained no bill of rights or separation of powers.
The people next voted in favor of a constitutional convention. It convened at Cambridge in September, 1779. James Bowdoin was chosen presiding officer. A sub-committee of prominent citizens eventually turned over the task of drawing up the new instrument to John Adams, indisputably the best-qualified man of his day. Adams, paying tribute to the pioneer liberals, later said it was 'Locke, Sidney, and Rousseau and De Mabley reduced to practice.' The new Constitution was sub- mitted March 2, 1780, and was ratified June 7. John Hancock was elected Governor. Although Massachusetts had been the first of the States to establish a government of its own, it was the last of the thirteen Colonies to adopt a written constitution.
Massachusetts is today the only State in the Union still governed under its original constitution. This has endured chiefly because of its broad provisions and flexible character. It was the first such document boldly to establish the principle of the separation of powers of the various branches of government. It contains assurance of the protection of in- alienable rights. Among its more important provisions were the right of the Governor and Council or the Legislature to require opinions from justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, the removal of judges by address, and the inapplicability of martial laws to citizens except with the consent of the Legislature.
There have been three constitutional conventions since 1779: in 1820, 1853, and 1917. More than seventy amendments have been made to the Constitution, but the general plan of government it erected is still es- sentially in operation. While power has been increasingly centralized in the Chief Executive and the State Government, the Constitution is still the bulwark of individual freedom and rights. As in the case of other State constitutions, it is a more powerful instrument than the Federal Constitution, because it has all powers not explicitly delegated to the Federal Government, while the Federal Government enjoys only powers specifically granted.
1
58
Massachusetts: The General Background
The town was the earliest unit of government. It was not for some century and a half that there was a formal statute declaring the town 'a body politic and corporate,' capable of suing and being sued; yet it was early in the history of the Colony that in practice the town became a self-governing unit - a miniature republic. The difficulties of travel, the dangers of leaving frontier farms open to Indian pillage, and inveterate distrust of arbitrary power acted jointly in favor of local independence. The General Court at Boston among its first actions granted the scat- tered infant towns incorporation and the right to make regulations, al- though at first these were made to apply only to stray swine. Gradually thereafter the townsmen assumed local authority.
In 1632 the Cambridge elders ruled that, under penalty of a fine, every person must appear at the monthly town meeting within half an hour of the sounding of the bell. Definite local officials began to ap- pear. Dorchester was at first ruled by the clergy and magistrates. In what is asserted to be the oldest self-rule document extant in the United States, the Dorchester town meeting record of 1633, the citizens were summoned by the rumble of a drum and twelve men acting as a 'steering committee.' The next year, 1634, Charlestown organized the first Board of Selectmen. This system, which provided a civil agency of government, was promptly adopted by other towns. This spontaneous organization of government within the towns, rather than any intention of the first charter, in 1635 led the General Court, in recognition of an accomplished fact, to make the first grant of local self-government in America. Given at Newe Towne, March 3, it granted the towns the right to dispose of common property, order civil affairs, and choose their own officers. By 1640, twenty town governments were in existence.
Expansion of the duties of the town officers and an increase in the number of town officials followed. In 1642 the General Court directed the 'chosen men' of each town to see to education, a humble act which gave birth to the public school system in America. Ten years after, the town of Cambridge vested the taxing power in their 'townsmen,' a privilege exercised by the Selectmen of Dorchester since 1645. In ad- dition to expanded duties for the Selectmen - who were even directed to remove oyster shells from the public highways - so many duties were heaped upon the town Constable - among them taking charge of small- pox funerals, levying fines, and catching Quakers that anyone declining the job was assessed the sizable fine of £Io. Until 1684 the officeholders and town duties continued to grow. Gaugers, viewers of pipestaves, cullers of brick, and measurers of salt appeared on the public rolls. Town legislation multiplied.
59
Government
So vigorous was the growth of the towns that between the formal end of the Colony and beginning of the Province, 1684-92, the town organiza- tion and privileges were recognized. The efforts of Governor Andros to tax the towns, command public assemblies, and interfere with the town meeting were no small factors in arousing the towns to depose him. Convinced of the inalienability of their right of self-rule, the towns main- tained it until the provincial charter from William and Mary arrived in 1691. When the new charter was found to be without a provision guaran- teeing local self-government, the first act passed by the General Court hastened to make that guaranty.
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