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Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (IPA: /ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/) is a statein the New Englandregion of the northeastern United States. Most of its population of 6.4 million live in the Boston metropolitan area. The eastern half of this relatively small state is mostly urbanand suburban. The west is primarily rural, also with most of its population in urban enclaves. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and ranks third in overall population densityamong the 50 states.

Massachusetts has been a significant state in American history. Plymouth, Massachusetts, was the second permanent English settlement in North America. Colonists from England founded many towns and villages in the present-day territory of Massachusetts very early in the nation's history in the 1620s and 1630s. The Boston area became known as the "Cradle of Liberty" for the ferment there which led to the American Revolution and the independence of the United States from Great Britain. Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to abolish slavery and was a center of the temperance movement and abolitionist activity in the years leading to the American Civil War. The state has contributed many prominent politicians to national service, including the Kennedy family.

Originally dependent on agriculture and trade with Europe, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. Migration of factories to the lower-wage Southern states caused economic stagnation during the first half of the 20th century. The Massachusetts economy was revived after World War II, and today is prominent in higher education, health care, and high technology.

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The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775 on Breed's Hill, as part of the Siege of Boston during the American Revolutionary War. General Israel Putnam was in charge of the revolutionary forces, while Major-General William Howe commanded the British forces. Because most of the fighting did not occur on Bunker Hill itself, the conflict is sometimes more accurately (though more rarely) called the Battle of Breed's Hill.

The result was a Pyrrhic victory for the British. They suffered their greatest losses of the entire war: over 800 wounded and 228 killed. The colonists held on and repelled the first two attacks. Finally the colonists' ammunition supplies ran out and on their third assault, the British forces overran the revolutionaries' fortified earthworks on Breed's and Bunker's Hills. Afterwards, British General Henry Clinton remarked in his diary that "A few more such victories would have surely put an end to British dominion in America."

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Crispus Attucks (c. 1723 – March 5, 1770) was the first of five people slaughtered in the Boston Massacre. He has been frequently named as the first martyr of the American Revolution and is the only person killed in the Boston Massacre whose name is commonly remembered. He remains an important and inspirational figure in American history.

Little is known for certain about Attucks other than that he was killed in the Boston Massacre. Fragmentary evidence suggests that he may have been a "mulatto" with African and Native American ancestry. In the early 1800s, as the Abolitionist movement gained momentum in Boston, Attucks was lauded as an example of a black American who played a heroic role in the history of the United States. Because Crispus Attucks may also have had Wampanoag Indian ancestors, his story also holds special significance for many Native Americans.

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External Links

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts Historical Society
USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Massachusetts
Maps of Massachusetts
1837 descriptions of Massachusetts cities, towns, mountains, lakes, and rivers, from Hayward's New England Gazetteer.
Massachusetts State Symbols
Miscellaneous Massachusetts Facts
Massachusetts State Facts from USDA
Massachusetts 351 Project
Massachusetts Constitution and Laws
Massachusetts Tourism Board
Atlases of Massachusetts
Online sources, via digitalbookindex.com
Bradford William. History of Plymouth Plantation Edited by Worthington C. Ford. 2 vols. Boston, 1912. online excerpts
Dwight, Timothy. Travels Through New England and New York (circa 1800) 4 vol. (1969) Online at: vol 1; vol 2; vol 3; vol 4
1837 descriptions of Massachusetts cities, towns, mountains, lakes, and rivers, from Hayward's New England Gazetteer.
McPhetres, S. A. A political manual for the campaign of 1868, for use in the New England states, containing the population and latest election returns of every town (1868)

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Spotlight City/Town

Lexington

Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 30,355 at the 2000 census. The town is famous for being the site of the opening shots of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first engagement of the American Revolution. Lexington was first settled in 1642 as the Cambridge Farms parish of Cambridge, Massachusetts and was incorporated as a separate town in 1713 [1]. How it received its name is the subject of some controversy. Some people believe that it was named in honor of Lord Lexington, a British nobleman.[2] Some, on the other hand, believe that it was named after Lexington (which was pronounced and today spelled Laxton) in Nottinghamshire, England.

State facts

Capital: Boston
Governor: Deval L. Patrick (D)
Lieutenant Governor: Tim Murray (D)
Secretary of the Commonwealth: William Galvin
Attorney General: Martha Coakley (R)

Senators: John Kerry (D), Ted Kennedy (D)

Area: Ranked 44th in the US
- Total: 10,555 sq mi (27,336 km²)
  - Width: 183 miles (295 km)
  - Length: 113 miles (182 km)
  - % Water: 25.7
Latitude: 41° 14′ N to 42° 53′ N
Longitude: 69° 56′ W to 73° 30′ W
Population: Ranked 13th in the US
- Total: 6,349,097
- Population Density: 809.8/sq mi (312.7/km²) (3rd in the US)
Median income: $52,354 (9th)
Elevation:
- Highest point: Mount Greylock 3,491 ft (1,064 m)
- Mean: 500 ft (150 m)
- Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Admission to Union: February 6, 1788 (6th)

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Featured and Good Content

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Sunrise as seen over the Atlantic Ocean from Chatham, Massachusetts

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WikiProjects

Massachusetts Boston Red Sox Universities Boston Celtics Massachusetts State Highways U.S. States

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Things to do

Standardize the articles on all 301 towns in Massachusetts.
Standardize the articles on the 50 cities in Massachusetts.
Improve the newly created stub on Polar Beverage Company.
Improve Massachusetts to featured article status.
Provide photos for Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Massachusetts
Create Boston Neighborhood Section - locate and add existing Boston articles to Project
Create articles for all Massachusetts Newspapers and add newspapers and other publications that are not on the list. Mostly done -- see below.
Assess articles.