Massachusetts

===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.]]