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>