Massachusetts

==History==
{{Main|History of Massachusetts|Native American tribes in Massachusetts}}

===Pre-colonization===

Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian language family]], including [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoag]], [[Narragansett people|Narragansett]], [[Nipmuc]], [[Pocomtuc]], [[Mahican]], and [[Massachusett]].{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=6–7}}<ref name=Mohican>{{cite web |title=Origin & Early Mohican History |publisher=Stockbridge-Munsee Community—Band of Mohican Indians |access-date=October 21, 2009 |url=http://mohican-nsn.gov/Departments/Library-Museum/Mohican_History/origin-and-early.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912122346/http://mohican-nsn.gov/Departments/Library-Museum/Mohican_History/origin-and-early.htm |archive-date=September 12, 2009 }}</ref> While cultivation of crops like [[Cucurbita|squash]] and [[maize|corn]] were an important part of their diet, the people of these tribes [[Hunting|hunted]], [[Fishing|fished]], and searched the forest for most of their food.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=6–7}} Villagers lived in lodges called [[wigwam]]s as well as [[longhouse]]s.<ref name="Mohican" /> Tribes were led by male or female elders known as [[sachem]]s.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=7}}

===Colonial period===

{{Main|Mayflower Compact|Plymouth Colony|Massachusetts Bay Colony|New England Confederation|Dominion of New England|Province of Massachusetts Bay}}

In the early 1600s, [[European diaspora|European colonizers]] caused [[virgin soil epidemic]]s such as [[smallpox]], [[measles]], [[influenza]], and perhaps [[leptospirosis]] in what is now known as the [[northeastern United States|northeastern region]] of the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoxie |first=Frederick E |title=Encyclopedia of North American Indians |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=1996 |location=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno00hoxi/page/164 164] |isbn=978-0-395-66921-1 |oclc=34669430 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno00hoxi |url-access=registration |access-date=July 30, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.3201/e0di1602.090276 |last1=Marr |first1=JS |last2=Cathey |first2=JT |title=New hypothesis for cause of an epidemic among Native Americans, New England, 1616–1619 |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |date=February 2010 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=281–286|pmid=20113559 |pmc=2957993 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Between 1617 and 1619, what was most likely [[smallpox]] killed approximately 90% of the [[Massachusetts Bay]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge|last=Kaplow|first=David|publisher=University of California Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0520242203|page=13}}</ref>[[File:Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, by William Halsall.jpg|thumb|The [[Mayflower]] ''in Plymouth Harbor'' by [[William Halsall]] (1882). The [[Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] founded [[Plymouth, Massachusetts|Plymouth]] in 1620.|left]]

The first English colonizers in Massachusetts Bay Colony landed with Richard Vines and wintered over in Biddeford Pool near Cape Porpoise (after 1820 the State of Maine) in 1616. The [[Puritans]], arrived at [[Plymouth, Massachusetts|Plymouth]] in 1620. This was the second permanent [[British colonization of the Americas|English colony]] in the part of North America that later became the United States, after the [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown Colony]]. The [[Thanksgiving (United States)|"First Thanksgiving"]] was celebrated by the Puritans after their first harvest in the "[[New World]]" and lasted for three days. They were soon followed by other Puritans, who colonized the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]]—now known as Boston—in 1630.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=30}}

The Puritans believed the [[Church of England]] needed to be further [[Reformation|reformed]] along [[Protestant]] [[Calvinist]] lines, and experienced harassment due to the religious policies of [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] and high-ranking churchmen such as [[William Laud]], who would become Charles's [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], whom they feared were re-introducing [[Ritualism in the Church of England|"Romish"]] elements to the national church.<ref name=puritans>{{cite web |title=The New England Colonies |url=http://www.ushistory.org/us/3.asp |publisher=ushistory.org |access-date=April 24, 2015}}</ref> They decided to colonize to Massachusetts, intending to establish what they considered an "ideal" religious society.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=29}} The [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] was colonized under a royal charter, unlike the Plymouth colony, in 1629.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charter Of Massachusetts Bay 1629 |url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/charter-of-massachusetts-bay-1629.php |publisher=let.rug.nl |access-date=April 24, 2015}}</ref> Both religious dissent and expansionism resulted in several new colonies being founded, shortly after Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, elsewhere in New England. The Massachusetts Bay banished dissenters such as [[Anne Hutchinson]] and [[Roger Williams]] due to religious and political conflict. In 1636, Williams colonized what is now known as [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]], and Hutchinson joined him there several years later. Religious intolerance continued, and among those who objected to this later that century were the English Quaker preachers [[Alice Curwen|Alice and Thomas Curwen]], who were publicly flogged and imprisoned in Boston in 1676.<ref>Michael Mullett: "Curwen, Thomas ({{circa|1610–1680}})", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6968 Retrieved 17 November 2015]</ref>{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=30–32}}

By 1641, Massachusetts had expanded inland significantly. The Commonwealth acquired the [[Connecticut River|Connecticut River Valley]] settlement of [[Springfield, Massachusetts|Springfield]], which had recently disputed with—and defected from—its original administrators, the [[Connecticut Colony]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Barrows |first=Charles Henry |title=The History of Springfield in Massachusetts for the Young: Being Also in Some Part the History of Other Towns and Cities in the County of Hampden |publisher=The Connecticut Valley Historical Society |year=1911 |pages=46–48 |id=US 13459.5.7}}</ref> This established Massachusetts's southern border in the west.<ref>[http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/pynchon.html William Pynchon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921185345/http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/pynchon.html |date=September 21, 2013 }}. Bio.umass.edu. Retrieved September 7, 2013.</ref> However, this became disputed territory until 1803–04 due to surveying problems, leading to the modern [[Southwick Jog]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Connecticut's "Southwick Jog" |url=http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/subjectguides/connecticuts-southwick-jog |publisher=Connecticut State Library |access-date=June 10, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Eliot_Bible.jpg|left|thumb|280x280px|The ''[[Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God]]'' (cover page shown), also called the ''[[Eliot Indian Bible]]'', was the first Bible printed in British North America.]]
In 1652 the [[Massachusetts General Court]] authorized Boston silversmith [[John Hull (merchant)|John Hull]] to produce [[pine tree shilling|local coinage]] in shilling, sixpence and threepence denominations to address a coin shortage in the colony.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=499}}</ref> Before that point, the colony's economy had been entirely dependent on barter and foreign currency, including English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and counterfeit coins.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=Hermann F. |year=1937 |title=John Hull: Mintmaster |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=669;673 |doi=10.2307/359931 |jstor=359931}}</ref> In 1661, shortly after the [[Stuart Restoration|restoration of the British monarchy]], the British government considered the Boston mint to be treasonous.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=500}}</ref> However, the colony ignored the English demands to cease operations until at least 1682, when Hull's contract as mintmaster expired, and the colony did not move to renew his contract or appoint a new mintmaster.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=514}}</ref> The coinage was a contributing factor to the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=520}}</ref>

In 1691, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were united (along with present-day [[Maine]], which had previously been divided between Massachusetts and [[Province of New York|New York]]) into the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]].{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=66}} Shortly after, the new province's first governor, [[William Phips]], arrived. The [[Salem witch trials]] also took place, where a number of men and women were hanged for alleged [[witchcraft]].{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=50}}

The [[1755 Cape Ann earthquake|most destructive earthquake]] known to date in [[New England]] occurred on November 18, 1755, causing considerable damage across Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite news|last=Perley |first=Sidney |agency=[[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] |title=Historic Earthquakes |publisher=Earthquake Hazards Program |date=April 18, 2014 |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1755_11_18_hs.php |access-date=February 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110190706/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1755_11_18_hs.php |archive-date=November 10, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Memorandum |newspaper=[[Boston Gazette]] |date=November 24, 1755 |page=1}}</ref>

===The Revolutionary War===

{{Main|American Revolutionary War|Boston campaign|Lee Resolution|United States Declaration of Independence|Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga|Articles of Confederation#Ratification|Treaty of Paris (1783)}}
[[File:The Battle of Lexington.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.05|A 1910 painting of the [[Battle of Lexington]]]]

Massachusetts was a center of the movement for independence from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]. Colonists in Massachusetts had long had uneasy relations with the British monarchy, including open rebellion under the [[Dominion of New England]] in the 1680s.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=66}} Protests against British attempts to tax the colonies after the [[French and Indian War]] ended in 1763 led to the [[Boston Massacre]] in 1770, and the 1773 [[Boston Tea Party]] escalated tensions.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=63–83}} In 1774, the [[Intolerable Acts]] targeted Massachusetts with punishments for the Boston Tea Party and further decreased local autonomy, increasing local dissent.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Intolerable Acts |url=http://www.ushistory.org/us/9g.asp |publisher=ushistory.org |access-date=April 24, 2015}}</ref> Anti-Parliamentary activity by men such as [[Samuel Adams]] and [[John Hancock]], followed by reprisals by the British government, were a primary reason for the unity of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and the outbreak of the [[American Revolution]] in 1775.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|pp=88–90}}

The [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], fought in Massachusetts in 1775, initiated the [[American Revolutionary War]].{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|pp=95–96}} [[George Washington]], later the first president of the future country, took over what would become the [[Continental Army]] after the battle. His first victory was the [[siege of Boston]] in the winter of 1775–76, after which the British were forced to evacuate the city.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|pp=96–97}} The event is still celebrated in [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk County]] only every March 17 as [[Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)|Evacuation Day]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Massachusetts Legal Holidays |url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cishol/holidx.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040627003406/https://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cishol/holidx.htm |archive-date=June 27, 2004 |access-date=May 22, 2010 |publisher=[[Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth]]}}</ref>

On the coast, Salem became a center for [[privateer]]ing. Although the documentation is incomplete, about 1,700 [[letter of marque|letters of marque]], issued on a per-voyage basis, were granted during the American Revolution. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers, which were credited with capturing or destroying about 600 British ships.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/privateers.html |title=John Fraylor. Salem Maritime National Historic Park |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=September 3, 2012}}</ref>
[[File:Official Presidential portrait of John Adams (by John Trumbull, circa 1792).jpg|thumb|175px|[[John Adams]], 2nd President of the United States (1797–1801)|left]]
[[File:Recto Massachusetts 5 shillings 1779 urn-3 HBS.Baker.AC 1086081.jpeg|alt=A 1779 five-shilling note issued by Massachusetts with the inscription:  "FIVE SHILLINGS. shall be paid to the Bearer of this Bill, by the 1st Day of Decmr. 1782 agreeable to an Act of the Genl, Court of said STATE."; Within print of sun: "RISING".|thumb|A 1779 five-shilling note issued by Massachusetts.]]

===Federal period===

{{Main|Constitutional Convention (United States)|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union}}

Bostonian [[John Adams]], known as the "Atlas of Independence",<ref>{{cite web |title=The Declaration of Independence |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/adams/peopleevents/e_declaration.html |publisher=PBS |access-date=April 25, 2015}}</ref> was highly involved in both separation from Britain and the [[Constitution of Massachusetts]], which effectively (the [[Elizabeth Freeman]] and [[Quock Walker]] cases as interpreted by [[William Cushing]]) made Massachusetts the first state to abolish slavery. [[David McCullough]] points out that an equally important feature was its placing for the first time the courts as a co-equal branch separate from the executive.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCullough |first1=David |title=John Adams |date=September 3, 2002 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0743223133 |edition=1st}}</ref> (The [[Constitution of Vermont (1777)|Constitution of Vermont]], adopted in 1777, represented the first partial ban on slavery among the states. Vermont became a state in 1791 but did not fully ban slavery until 1858 with the Vermont Personal Liberty Law. The [[An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery|Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://explorepahistory.com/odocument.php?docId=341 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004214250/http://explorepahistory.com/odocument.php?docId=341 |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |title=Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 |publisher=Explore PA history}}</ref> made [[Pennsylvania]] the first state to abolish slavery by statute - the second English colony to do so; the first having been the Colony of Georgia in 1735.) Later, Adams was active in early American foreign affairs and succeeded Washington as the second [[president of the United States]]. His son, [[John Quincy Adams]], also from Massachusetts,<ref>{{cite web |last=Rettig |first=Polly M. |title=John Quincy Adams Birthplace |url={{NHLS url|id=66000128}} |website=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=April 24, 2015 |date=April 3, 1978}}</ref> would go on to become the nation's sixth president.

From 1786 to 1787, an armed uprising led by Revolutionary War veteran [[Daniel Shays]], now known as [[Shays' Rebellion]], wrought havoc throughout Massachusetts and ultimately attempted to seize the federal [[Springfield Armory]].<ref name=shay/> The rebellion was one of the major factors in the decision to draft a stronger national constitution to replace the [[Articles of Confederation]].<ref name=shay/> On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the [[United States Constitution]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ratification of the U.S. Constitution in Massachusetts |publisher=[[Massachusetts Historical Society]] |access-date=May 22, 2010 |url=http://www.masshist.org/objects/cabinet/february2003/february2003.htm}}</ref>

===19th century===

{{Main|Missouri Compromise|Massachusetts in the American Civil War}}

In 1820, [[Maine]] separated from Massachusetts and entered the Union as the 23rd state due to the ratification of the [[Missouri Compromise]].<ref>{{cite web |title=On this day in 1820 |url=http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=81 |publisher=Massmoments.org |access-date=April 25, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Visitor_Center,_Market_Mills,_Lowell_MA.jpg|thumb|[[textile manufacturing|Textile mills]], such as the one depicted here in [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]], made Massachusetts a leader in the [[Industrial Revolution]].]]
During the 19th century, Massachusetts became a national leader in the American [[Industrial Revolution]], with factories around cities such as [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]] and [[Boston]] producing textiles and shoes, and factories around Springfield producing tools, paper, and textiles.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=129}}{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=211}} The state's economy transformed from one based primarily on agriculture to an industrial one, initially making use of water-power and later the [[steam engine]] to power factories. Canals and railroads were being used in the state for transporting raw materials and finished goods.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=202}} At first, the new industries drew labor from [[Yankee]]s on nearby subsistence farms, though they later relied upon [[immigration to the United States|immigrant labor]] from Europe and Canada.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=133–36}}{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=179}}

Although Massachusetts was the first slave-holding colony with slavery dating back to the early 1600s, the state became a center of [[progressivism|progressivist]] and [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]] (anti-slavery) activity in the years leading up to the [[American Civil War]]. [[Horace Mann]] made the state's school system a national model.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=251}} [[Henry David Thoreau]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], both [[philosopher]]s and writers from the state, also made major contributions to American philosophy.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=254}} Furthermore, members of the [[transcendentalism|transcendentalist movement]] within the state emphasized the importance of the natural world and emotion to humanity.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=254}}

Although significant opposition to abolitionism existed early on in Massachusetts, resulting in anti-abolitionist riots between 1835 and 1837,{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=185}} abolitionist views there gradually increased throughout the next few decades.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=183}}{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=187–93}} Abolitionists [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] and [[Sojourner Truth]] lived in Springfield and Northampton, respectively, while [[Frederick Douglass]] lived in Boston and [[Susan B. Anthony]] in [[Adams, Massachusetts|Adams]]. The works of such abolitionists contributed to Massachusetts's actions during the Civil War. Massachusetts was the first state to recruit, train, and arm a [[African Americans|Black]] regiment with [[White people|White]] officers, the [[54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=October 19, 2009 |url=http://www.nps.gov/boaf/historyculture/shaw.htm}}</ref> In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to pass [[compulsory education]] laws.<ref name=compschools>{{cite web |title=State Compulsory School Attendance Laws |url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0112617.html |publisher=infoplease.com |access-date=May 5, 2015}}</ref>

===20th century===

Although the American stock market had sustained steep losses the last week in October 1929, [[October 29, 1929|Tuesday, October 29]] is remembered as the beginning of the Great Depression. The [[Boston Stock Exchange]], drawn into the whirlpool of panic selling that beset the New York Stock Exchange, lost over 25 percent of its value in two days of frenzied trading. The BSE, nearly 100 years old at the time, had helped raise the capital that had funded many of the Commonwealth's factories, railroads, and businesses. "<ref>{{cite web |title=Stock Market Crash Heralds Great Depression |url=https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/stock-market-crash-heralds-great-depression.html |website=massmoments.org |access-date=June 30, 2022}}</ref> Governor of Massachusetts [[Frank G. Allen]] appointed [[John C. Hull (politician)|John C. Hull]] the first Securities Director of Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mass.gov/files/department-of-public-utilities-history_0.pdf |title=Department of Public Utilities History |last=Osborne |first=Paul E. |date=March 2016 |publisher=Government of Massachusetts |access-date=June 30, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=alumni-magazines |title=Bowdoin Alumnus Volume 4 (1929–1930) |journal=Bowdoin Alumnus Magazines |year=1930 |publisher=Bowdoin College |page=129}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/actsresolvespass1929mass/page/290/mode/2up?q=securities+division+ | title=Acts and resolves passed by the General Court | year=1663 }}</ref> Hull would assume office in January 1930, and his term would end in 1936.<ref>290 Acts, 1929. — Chap. 287. Chap. 2S7 An Act to provide for the more effective enforcement of the Sale of Securities Act. Identifier: actsresolvespass1929mass
"Section 1. Chapter twenty- five of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding thereto, under the heading, Securities Division, There shall be in the department, and under its general supervision and control, a securities division which shall be under the charge of a director." John C. Hull was the first Securities Director appointed January 1930. His term would end in 1936. Publication date 1927–1928. pg. 102</ref>

With the departure of several manufacturing companies, the state's industrial economy began to decline during the early 20th century. By the 1920s, competition from the [[American South]] and [[Midwest]], followed by the [[Great Depression]], led to the collapse of the three main industries in Massachusetts: textiles, shoemaking, and precision mechanics.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=246}} This decline would continue into the latter half of the 20th century. Between 1950 and 1979, the number of Massachusetts residents involved in textile manufacturing declined from 264,000 to 63,000.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=276}} The 1969 closure of the [[Springfield Armory]], in particular, spurred an exodus of high-paying jobs from Western Massachusetts, which suffered greatly as it de-industrialized during the century's last 40 years.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Lowell]] |url=http://www.uml.edu/com/cita/05paperforrantmuckensturm.pdf |title=Job Loss, Shrinking Revenues, and Grinding Decline in Springfield, Massachusetts: Is A Finance Control Board the Answer? |access-date=June 10, 2015 |archive-date=October 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018103402/http://www.uml.edu/com/cita/05paperforrantmuckensturm.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Massachusetts manufactured 3.4 percent of total United States military armaments produced during [[World War&nbsp;II]], ranking tenth among the 48 states.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peck |first1=Merton J. |last2=Scherer |first2=Frederic M. |title=The weapons acquisition process: An economic analysis |journal=IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management |date=March 1964 |volume=EM-11 |issue=1 |pages=51–52 |doi=10.1109/TEM.1964.6446393 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6446393 |access-date=October 28, 2022 |issn=1558-0040}}</ref> After the world war, the economy of [[eastern Massachusetts]] transformed from one based on heavy industry into a [[service-based economy]].{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=275–83}} Government contracts, private investment, and research facilities led to a new and improved industrial climate, with reduced unemployment and increased per capita income. Suburbanization flourished, and by the 1970s, the [[Massachusetts Route 128|Route 128]]/[[Interstate 95]] corridor was dotted with [[high tech|high-tech]] companies who recruited graduates of the area's many elite institutions of higher education.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=284}}

In 1987, the state received federal funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Commonly known as "the [[Big Dig]]", it was, at the time, the biggest federal highway project ever approved.<ref name="BigDig1">Grunwald, Michael. ''Dig the Big Dig'' [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401755.html] ''[[The Washington Post]]''. August 6, 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2010.</ref> The project included making the [[Central Artery]], part of [[Interstate 93]], into a tunnel under downtown Boston, in addition to the re-routing of several other major highways.<ref name=BigDig2>{{cite web |title=The Central Artery/Tunnel Project—The Big Dig |url=http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig.aspx |publisher=[[Massachusetts Department of Transportation]]—Highway Division |access-date=April 26, 2015 |archive-date=August 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830060735/http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=September 2019}} The project was often controversial, with numerous claims of graft and mismanagement, and with its initial price tag of $2.5{{spaces}}billion increasing to a final tally of over $15{{spaces}}billion. Nonetheless, the Big Dig nonetheless changed the face of [[Downtown Boston]]<ref name=BigDig1/> and connected areas that were once divided by elevated highway. Much of the raised old Central Artery was replaced with the [[Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway]]. The project also improved traffic conditions along  several routes.<ref name=BigDig1/><ref name=BigDig2/>

====Notable 20th century politicians====

[[File:John F. Kennedy, White House color photo portrait.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[John F. Kennedy]], Massachusetts native and 35th President of the United States (1961–1963)]]

The [[Kennedy family]] was prominent in 20th-century Massachusetts politics. The children of businessman and ambassador [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]] included [[John F. Kennedy]], who was a [[United States Senate|senator]] and [[President of the United States|U.S. president]] before [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|his assassination]] in 1963; [[Ted Kennedy]], a [[United States Senate|senator]] from 1962 until his death in 2009;<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography: Edward Moore Kennedy |website=[[American Experience]] |access-date=May 28, 2010 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/kennedys-bio-edward-kennedy/}}</ref> and [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver]], a co-founder of the [[Special Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Kennedys: A Family Tree |newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |access-date=May 28, 2010 |url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/111199/JFK/family-tree.shtml}}</ref> In 1966, Massachusetts became the first state to directly elect an African American to the U.S. senate with [[Edward Brooke]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Brooke, Edward William, III |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=b000871 |website=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]] |access-date=April 25, 2015}}</ref> [[George H. W. Bush]], 41st [[President of the United States]] (1989–1993) was born in [[Milton, Massachusetts|Milton]] in 1924.<ref>{{cite web |title=George H.W. Bush Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/people/george-hw-bush-38066 |publisher=biography.com |access-date=April 26, 2015}}</ref>

Other notable Massachusetts politicians on the national level included [[Joseph W. Martin, Jr.]], [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] (from 1947 to 1949 and then again from 1953 to 1955) and leader of House Republicans from 1939 until 1959 (where he was the only Republican to serve as Speaker between 1931 and 1995),<ref>James J. Kenneally, ''A Compassionate Conservative: A Political Biography of Joseph W. Martin Jr., Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives'' (2003)</ref> [[John W. McCormack]], Speaker of the House in the 1960s, and [[Tip O'Neill]], whose service as Speaker of the House from 1977 to 1987 was the longest continuous tenure in United States history.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tip O'Neill {{!}} Donegal Diaspora |url=https://www.donegaldiaspora.ie/people/tip-oneill |website=www.donegaldiaspora.ie |access-date=December 3, 2022}}</ref>

===21st century===

On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to legalize [[Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts|same-sex marriage]]. This followed the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]]'s decision in ''[[Goodridge v. Department of Public Health]]'' in November 2003, which determined that the exclusion of same-sex couples from the right to a civil marriage was unconstitutional.<ref name=CNNmarriage />

In 2004, Massachusetts senator [[John Kerry]], who won the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, lost to incumbent [[George W. Bush]]. Eight years later, former Massachusetts governor [[Mitt Romney]] (the Republican nominee) lost to incumbent [[Barack Obama]] in 2012. Another eight years later, Massachusetts senator [[Elizabeth Warren]] became a frontrunner in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election. However, she later suspended her campaign and endorsed presumptive nominee [[Joe Biden]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCammond |first1=Alexi |title=Elizabeth Warren endorses Joe Biden in 2020 presidential race |url=https://www.axios.com/2020/04/15/elizabeth-warren-endorses-joe-biden-president |access-date=December 3, 2022 |work=Axios |date=April 15, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:1st Boston Marathon blast seen from 2nd floor and a half block away.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Boston Marathon bombing]]

Two [[Boston marathon bombing|pressure cooker bombs exploded]] near the finish line of the [[Boston Marathon]] on April 15, 2013, at around 2:49 pm local time ([[Eastern Time Zone|EDT]]). The explosions killed three people and injured an estimated 264 others.<ref>{{cite news |title=Police narrow in on two suspects in Boston Marathon bombings |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/injury-toll-rises-marathon-massacre-article-1.1319080 |access-date=December 3, 2022 |work=Daily News|location=New York}}</ref> The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) later identified the suspects as brothers [[Dzhokhar Tsarnaev]] and [[Tamerlan Tsarnaev]]. The ensuing [[manhunt (law enforcement)|manhunt]] ended on April 19 when thousands of law enforcement officers searched a 20-block area of nearby [[Watertown, Massachusetts|Watertown]]. Dzhokhar later said he was motivated by extremist [[Islamism|Islamic]] beliefs and learned to build explosive devices from [[Inspire (magazine)|''Inspire'']], the online magazine of [[al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Michael |last2=Schmidt |first2=Michael S. |last3=Schmitt |first3=Eric |title=Boston Suspects Are Seen as Self-Taught and Fueled by Web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/us/boston-marathon-bombing-developments.html |access-date=December 3, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=April 23, 2013}}</ref>

On November 8, 2016, Massachusetts voted in favor of the Massachusetts [[Legality of cannabis by U.S. jurisdiction|Marijuana Legalization Initiative]], also known as Question 4.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.courant.com/politics/elections/hc-legal-marijuana-referendums-20161108-story.html|title=Recreational Marijuana Passes In Massachusetts|first=Russell|last=Blair|date=November 9, 2016 }}</ref>