Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay was a colonial state established to administer lands conquered from Native American nations.
Contents
Geography
The colony was settled along the Massachusetts Bay, especially in the natural harbors of Boston and Salem.
The 1629 charter granted to the Massachusetts Bay Company included all lands between the Merrimack and Charles Rivers, which had not been fully explored. This effectively included the entire New England coastline, and conflicted with other charters (esp.for New Hampshire). The issue was sidestepped by royal establishment of the province of New Hampshire in 1679. Maine continued to be part of Massachusetts until it acceded to the union as a state in 1820.
History
The colony was founded by the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1628. It built on lessons learned from the success of Plymouth Colony just to the south, as well as the failures of the Dorchester Company which attempted to settle Cape Ann, and the Wessagusset Colony that attempted to settle Weymouth.
William and Mary granted a royal charter to form the province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691. This involved the annexation of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia. Until Nova Scotia was again split off five years later, Massacusetts Bay stretched the entire coast from Cape Cod to the St. Lawrence basin (which was part of Lower Canada).
Composition
The colony was effectively a Puritan theocratic state. Its charter called for a General Court with restrictive suffrage based in church membership. Slavery was notably legal.
The founders established a council of assistants among themselves which held sole power to elect a governor and create laws. Towns were required to send two delegates each, but they only had input on taxes.
The royal charter expanded suffrage to be based on land ownership, but also established that appointments of governors, deputy governors, and judges were the sole prerogative of the crown. The governor gained veto power over the legislature.