BOSTON, the capital city of the State of Massachusetts, U.S.A. comprises the greater part of Suffolk county,
21' 27-6" N.,
° 3'
W. The population in 1920 was 748,060, of which 238,919 were foreign-born whites. In 1930, the city had 781,188 residents but the foreign-born whites had decreased to
The city is the terminus of the Boston and Albany (New York Central), the New York, New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and Maine railways. These roads have in the past 5o years ab sorbed all other minor systems of a local nature. There is daily steamship service to New York.
Boston and its harbour stands at the head of Massachusetts bay. It occupies much of the Boston basin, a territory lying within a ring of hills. It stands on a surface of granite, conglomerate, slate and lavas between geological "faults" at the Blue hills on the south and Arlington heights on the north. It was, in its colonial days, rocky and irregular, a peninsula lying between the south bay, the Charles river and the Back bay flats. The town was almost an island, being connected with the Massa chusetts mainland by the very narrow Roxbury neck. As originally built it covered and surrounded three hills, Beacon, Copp's and Fort. No city has undergone greater physical changes than Boston since the Revolutionary War. To-day there are only a few blocks in two sections on the water front which were on the original boundary. A town of 78oac. is now a city of 28,019ac. of land area, so increased by annexation of surrounding territory and by
of made land. The total present area including water is 30,598ac. or 47.81 sq.m. (land area alone 43.96). Of the hills which dominated Boston in colonial days, Copp's hill alone stands unaltered. Fort hill, near the water front, has been entirely lev elled and Beacon hill, once a rigid peak sustaining the Beacon from which it was named, has now a rounded top approached by a gradual and gentle rise almost from the water front, which with the gilded dome of the State capitol dominates the landscape. Although the city is almost surrounded by made land and the narrow neck which connected it with the mainland has long since been quite obliterated, the greatest project of reclamation was that commenced in 1856 in filling in the so-called Back bay, a very large tract in the rear of the city. Boston Common then had its western boundary on the river. The bay and the flats were filled in so that the Common simply touches on that side the Pub lic Garden, a large conventionally laid out park which in turn is touched by Commonwealth avenue, a long residential street tra versing the made land and reaching far out of the city. Here was once the most aristocratic residential section of the city.
The municipalities and sections added to Boston by annexation are as follows : East Boston, an island in the har bour settled by Samuel Maverick almost coincidentally with the mainland and having no regular municipal entity, annexed in
In 1804 South Boston, a peninsula coming close to the city was annexed. It contains Dorchester heights, the fortification of which, by the Continental army, made British occupation of the city untenable in 1776. In 1868 Roxbury, which until the filling in of the Back bay had been the only town through which Boston could be approached by land, was annexed. It was a city at the time and like Boston and the surrounding colonial towns, has an individual history of its own. Six years later, in 1874, four communities were added : the city of Charlestown, and the towns of Dorchester, Brighton and West Roxbury. No further annexations were made until 1912 when Hyde Park was added from Norfolk county. Bos ton proper, once containing the greatest number of residents, has lost in population in favour of the outlying districts until Dor chester (1930) now has the greatest population of any district, 178,024 to 163,009 in the original town.
The population of Boston has increased as fol
(179o) 18,32o; (1800)
(i8io) 32,787; (1820) 42, 228 ; (1830) 61.392; (1840) 93,383; (185o) 136,881; (186o)
840; (187o) 250,526; (188o) 362,839; (1890)
(190o) 560.892; (1910)
748,06o;
781,188.
Although the foreign-born citizens do not outnumber those born in the United States, the old fashioned citizen of colonial antece dents, the type generally accepted by the public as Bostonian, is in very great minority.
Boston has the same urban conditions as large American cities elsewhere—the spread of population beyond its limits. The bulk of the inhabitants of Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, Milton, Som erville, Malden and other cities and towns within the Boston basin, are to all intents and purposes part of the citizenship.
The streets of Boston are in some instances nearly inadequate to the use of the public. Washington street, the main thoroughfare of the city, is one of the narrowest business streets in America. The reputation given Boston for its crooked streets comes principally from the laying out of the old colonial paths and lanes as they were used at the time of the first settlement. These streets are located mainly in the north and west ends and in some of the annexed suburbs. For the most part the modern streets are laid out at right angles and are as straight as it is possible for streets to be where the nature of the land does not give a city a long and narrow formation like that of Manhattan island.
The harbour is practically land-locked and is only 64m. from open sea. The main ship channel is 3 5f t. deep at low water. Its wharfage extends along what can roughly be called the three sides of an open rectangle, comprising the water front at South Boston, Boston proper and East Boston, with a broad passage north-east of Boston leading to the Charlestown water front along the Charles and Mystic rivers. This frontage is eight miles in length and comprises 4om. of berthing space. The great Commonwealth pier at South Boston, constructed by the State just before the World War, is 1, goof t. long and 400f t. wide. This pier gives simultaneous berthing space to five 600ft. ocean steamers. Its three steel and concrete warehouses contain 900,000 sq.ft. of floor space. The army base, also on the South Boston front, has over a mile of berthing space. This base, the second largest in the country, built for war purposes, has now to a very great extent been turned over to commercial use. There are other ample dock and pier facilities provided by the railroad terminals. The U.S. dry-dock in South Boston is the only one in the western hemisphere capable of accommodating the world's great liners, the Leviathan and the Majestic.
Boston is served by freight and passenger lines to the chief ports of Europe. Freight lines go to and from the Far East, South America and Australia. It has a large coastwise trade. In foreign trade it is the tenth city in the United States. In imports alone it is third, while it is also third in volume of overseas passengers.
A large tract of land in East Boston was converted in 1922 into a large airport ; this qualifies Boston to become an important air terminal with the development of commercial air navigation.
The post office, a new structure costing in the neighbourhood of six million dollars, is twenty-two stories high and houses not only the post office but the sub-treasury, the Federal courts and other U.S. Government activities as well. It is located on Post Office square. convenient to the office building centre of Boston. But the highest building in Boston is still the custom house tower, erected by the United States on territory nationally owned and beyond municipal restriction. The old custom house was first occupied in 1856. To make needed enlargements the central part of the old building was extended into a tower of a fraction less than Soo feet. This was finished and occupied in 1915. There are no other buildings in the city so high, as their erection in the business district is restricted to 1S5 feet.
Ancient landmarks still cherished in Boston include public buildings, residences, old graveyards and the Boston Common. The Common, purchased by the town from Blaxton, the original settler in 1634, was originally set aside for training and common pasturage. Since a burial ground was early set off within it, it has never been encroached upon for any utilitarian purpose except when, in 1895, part of the Boston subway was built under its eastward edge. It contains various monuments, the foundation of Saint-Gaudens's Shaw memorial, a small artificial pond known, quite without reason, as the Frog pond and the "Parade ground," often used for military events.
The old Boston cemeteries are the King's chapel burying ground containing the bodies of John Winthrop and John Cotton; the old Granary, in which are interred John Hancock, Samuel Adams, James Otis, the parents of Franklin and many other Boston notables; and Copp's hill, wherein lie the Mathers. The burial ground on the south side of the Common is not so old as these colonial burial places, having been put to that purpose after the Revolution.
Christ church (1723), on Copp's hill, is the oldest Episcopal church in the city, from whose tower, it is said, lanterns were hung on April 18, 1775 to warn Paul Revere of the route of the British to Concord. The Old South meeting-house (173o-82) while still a church, was used for town meetings, orations and other patriotic purposes. The British turned it into a riding school during the siege of Boston. The Old State house (1748) was the seat of the provincial government. Here Otis delivered his ora tion against the writs of assistance and the Declaration of In dependence was read to the people from the balcony. The Boston Massacre occurred almost beneath its windows. Faneuil hall and market (1762-63) was the gift to the city of Peter Faneuil. The hall, containing many historic paintings, has been for many years the public forum of Boston. It is called "The Cradle of Liberty." The greater market house adjoining it, known as Quincy market, was the first municipal improvement of importance after Boston became a city. King's chapel (1749-54) was the first Episcopal church built in Boston (the first edifice being erected in 1688). It was also the first Boston church to become Uni tarian (see History). It was called the Stone chapel in the days of the Revolution, when royalty was anathema and its early name was not restored for many years.
The dominating building of Boston since it was built in 1795– 98 has been the State capitol of Massachusetts, familiarly known as the State house, occupying the present summit of Beacon hill, the original portion having been designed by Charles Bulfinch. The central or original structure is of red brick, with pillared portico surmounted by a dome, which has been gilded since 1874. Ad ditions were made in 1831, 1859, 1889 and 1914. It is now flanked by two great wings of white marble standing at right angles to the old edifice and joined to it by buildings of the same material, while a large addition in the rear bridging Mt. Vernon street, extends for two blocks. It has a total floor area of nearly half a million feet. It contains many paintings, tablets and sculptures of a memorial nature and its Memorial hall contains glassed-in niches, in which are the Massachusetts battle flags of the Civil, Spanish American and World wars. Opposite it, on the Common, at the street boundary, is Saint-Gaudens's famous and beautiful bas-relief memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and his negro regiment which gained fame at Ft. Wagner.
The Federal Reserve Bank of the New England district is situated in Boston. There are six National banks in Boston with a total capital of $45,312,500, and deposits (Oct. 31, 1935) of $946,180,527. The trust companies number 13, with a capital of $18,200,000 and deposits of $1,010,812,900. There are 23 savings banks with $736,313,790 and 47 co-operative banks with total assets of $89,012,721. The Boston Clearing house ranks fourth among leading cities in total business.
For the Massachusetts customs dis trict (Boston and nine minor ports) in calendar year, 1935, the total value of exports was $23,464,521 or $24,029,354 less than in 1925; of imports, $110,532,973 or $211,033,855 less than in 1925; total foreign trade, $133,997,494 or $235,063,209 less than in 1925. Boston's total foreign trade for the year 1926 ranked tenth among American ports, New York, New Orleans, Galveston, Seattle, San Francisco, Detroit, Norfolk, Los Angeles, and Buffalo exceeding the former in value. As to imports alone Boston ranked third, and as to exports, 18th (the contrast being due largely to discrimination in through railway freight rates).
The number of establishments conducted un der so-called factory system having annual products valued at $500 or over was 2,144 in 1933; the value of the year's product,
; average number of wage earners, 46,823 ; total wages paid in year, $48,967,876; value of materials used, $136, 564,250; value added by manufacture, $152,005,242. The leading industries ranked according to value of output in 1929 were: print ing and publishing, 425 establishments, with $82,559,148 in prod ucts; clothing, men's and women's, 358 with $58,159,555; boots and shoes, 74 establishments with $53,090,165; confectionery, 51 with
bread and other bakery products, 251 with $2 563,280; electrical machinery, apparatus and supplies, 32 with $19,641,498; furniture, 81 with $12,322,547; druggists' supplies and patent medicines, 28 with $11,699,079; meat packing, 14 with $10,530,676; house furnishings, 51 with $7,832,023; and bever ages, 4o with $5,358,173.
Boston is the centre of a large district in which many notable educational institutions are situ ated; just beyond the city limits in Cambridge are : Harvard university, which while never in Boston, has had a profound influence on Boston life; Radcliffe college (for women) ; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lately removed from Boston. Boston college, the great Jesuit college, is now located in Newton ; Tufts college at Medford and Wellesley college at Wellesley are not far away. In Boston proper is Boston university with its numerous colleges and schools; the schools of medicine. dentistry and public health, the graduate school of business ad ministration, the Bussey institution for graduate work and re search in applied biology and the Arnold arboretum, a botanical garden, all of Harvard university. The Soldier's field, with its great stadium where the principal athletic contests take place is also situated in the city just across the river from Cambridge. Here also is Simmons college, for women; Wentworth institute for technical mechanical training; the Emerson college of oratory, North Eastern university connected with the Young Men's Chris tian Association ; the Suffolk law school for men and the Portia law school for women.
Boston's school system is the oldest in the country. The present Boston Latin school was the first public school in America, established in 1635. It is probable that elementary as well as higher branches were taught but its main purpose soon became what it is to-day, the fitting of young men for college. A similar school, the Grammar school, in the easterly part of Roxbury, now the Roxbury Latin school was founded in 1645. These two schools survive, both as free schools, the first a part of the Boston school system, the second as an en dowed institution in which tuition is free to all boys living within the wide limits of the original Roxbury survey. The Boston school system maintains a teaching force of 4,746 teachers for over 147,000 pupils in kindergarten, elementary, intermediate and high-school grades, besides a number of specialized schools in cluding two Latin schools, schools of mechanic arts, practical arts, trade schools, a clerical school, continuation schools and a Teachers' college. The Roman Catholic church maintains an elaborate system of schools of grades paralleling those of the public system. Its high-school, which is maintained by Boston college, is in the buildings once occupied by the college itself. There are also convent schools for young ladies and there are private schools to be found in the city.
The Boston public library, now in Copley square, is one of the most famous libraries in the world. It was founded in 1852 and for many years occupied a convenient site opposite the southern boundary of the Common. Its present building was erected in 1888-95 at a cost of nearly $2,500,000 and en larged in 1918. It is a very simple and striking building in the Italian Renaissance style. The library contains a statue of Sir Henry Vane by MacMonnies and in Bates hall, the main reading room and in the corridors, are busts of notable Bostonians, eminent writers and benefactors of the institution. The most famous decorations in the library are the three series of mural paintings. That by Puvis de Chavannes, illustrates the ancient growth of literature and art. The John S. Sargent paintings with the notable frieze of the prophets and heavily decorated symbolic paintings depict the growth of religion. Edwin A. Abbey's con tributions in the delivery room are illustrations of the legend of the Holy Grail. The main library building contained on Dec. 31,
volumes. It has a lecture hall and maintains a course of free lectures each year. Among the special collections owned by or loaned to the main library are, the New England library collected before 1758, the private library of President John Adams, the best existing collection of original letters bearing on the anti-slavery movement, the gold medal presented to Wash ington on the evacuation of Boston in 1776. The Boston public library maintains 33 branch libraries containing (Dec. 31,
516,961 volumes.
Another important library is that of the Boston Athenaeum, supported by endowments and the annual assessments on the share owners. It was incorporated in 1807 and occupies a large building on Beacon street near the State house. It contains 328,548 vol umes, including a large part of the library of George Washington. Other important libraries are the Massachusetts State library with over half a million volumes; the Baker library of the Harvard graduate school of business administration of 140,000 books and 1,000,000 pamphlets; that of the Massachusetts Historical So ciety which includes about 126,00ovol. and the same number of pamphlets, and one of the largest collections of manuscripts in America ; the New England Historical Genealogical library of about 72,00o books, 61,000 pamphlets and "innumerable manu scripts," as the librarian reports ; the library of the Boston Society of Natural History of 57,000 books and 56,000 pamphlets; and that of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences of 44,000 volumes.
The Boston Athenaeum at one time maintained a large art gallery. This gallery led to the founding (1870) of another great endowed institution, the Boston museum of Fine Arts, the art works of the Athenaeum being the nucleus of its collection. Its first building was situated on Copley square; its present build ing, on the upper part of Huntington avenue, was opened in 1909 and is one of the chief art museums of America. It contains the well-known portraits by Stuart of George and Martha Washing ton, landscapes, portraits and other paintings by the eminent masters, ancient and modern; statues, busts and casts, a very noble tapestry gallery, a fine collection of ceramics and metal work. The museum's collection of oriental art is especially notable. It is free to the public.
Symphony hall on Huntington avenue, is the home of the Boston Symphony orchestra. This orchestra, founded in 1881 by Henry L. Higginson, banker and civic philanthropist, is the chief musical organization of Boston and in the front rank in America. Symphony hall was erected in 1900. It is dignified and simple in its lines and its acoustics make it an ideal hall for music on a large orchestral scale. Nearby is the Jordan hall of Boston Conservatory of Music. A Symphony orchestra plays weekly on Sunday afternoons at one of the theatres. There are three choral societies in Boston, the Handel and Haydn, the Cecilia and the Apollo Clubs, and various other vocal and instrumental organizations.
The Boston Opera house also on Huntington avenue, is a large and modem building, built to house the Boston Opera company. When local opera was abandoned, it was taken over by a firm of commercial theatre managers and is used mainly for large theatrical productions, but notable grand opera companies visit it yearly.
Boston supports five first class commercial theatres: the Shubert, Plymouth, Colonial, Tremont. Majestic, and two the atres which house other legitimate productions of a varied nature —the Copley and the Repertory. The last mentioned building was constructed by subscription at a cost of more than half a million dollars. It is a remarkably equipped theatre, having the most im proved lighting and mechanical apparatus. It is conducted by a board of trustees and not for profit and is tax exempt, as an educational and non-commercial institution. The oldest theatre now existing is the Howard Athenaeum, once a fine legitimate house, now a burlesque theatre. The rise of the motion picture has led to the erection of a great number of motion picture and motion-picture and vaudeville theatres of which the most pre tentious and by far the handsomest is the Metropolitan, which was built in 1926.
The water supply of Boston is under the con trol of the Metropolitan district commission, the surrounding cities and towns being included in the Metropolitan district. Its present chief source is the great Wachusett basin, with its dam at Clinton, Mass., which feeds through aqueducts, the various local supply reservoirs. At the present time another great dam is being constructed nearly 6om. west of Boston, forming a basin which will utilize the flood flow of the Swift river. This basin will be connected by an aqueduct with the Wachusett reservoir.
The Charles river is spanned by about a dozen bridges between Boston and its northern shore. Among them may be mentioned the Charlestown and Warren bridges, connecting the city with the Charlestown district. The granite Longfellow bridge which connects the West End of Boston with East Cam bridge, is the most striking and ornate large bridge over the river, built from a Russian original, with eight large towers. The Via duct bridge is used at the Charles river dam by the elevated rail way. Still farther west, the Harvard bridge connects the upper Back bay at Massachusetts avenue with the most direct road to Harvard square and the college buildings. The Larz Anderson bridge, erected as a memorial to Larz Anderson, American diplo mat, connects Cambridge and Brighton district and the road be tween Harvard university and the Soldiers' field. The John W. Weeks Memorial bridge crosses the river opposite the Harvard graduate school of business administration.
Boston's park system forms a semi-circle around the city. The Marine park at South Boston is connected by a parkway with the Franklin, the park of greatest acreage, which contains beside much pleasant woodland, a zoo, an aviary, tennis courts, golf links, a children's playground and some beauti ful gardens in which the natural beauties are stressed beyond the artificial laying out. From Franklin park a parkway leads to the Jamaica pond, passing the Arnold arboretum, the Harvard college botanical garden which, being open to the public, is practically part of the system. On the shores of Jamaica pond is the Chil dren's museum. From the Jamaica pond reservation the park way extends along the Muddy river which separates Boston and Brookline, to the Back bay fens and thence to the Charles river embankment. Boston Common is connected with this system by the adjoining Public garden, laid out more conventionally than the natural gardens of Franklin park, with its tiny artificial lake on which are row-boats and foot-propelled "swan boats." From the Public garden a parkway runs through Commonwealth ave nue to the Back bay fens. The Metropolitan district commission has reserved much wild land in the district, some of which is in West Roxbury, within the city limits.
There are two cathedrals in Boston, the cathedral of the Holy Cross (Roman Catholic) and St. Paul's cathedral (Episcopal). Neither is among the notable cathedrals of the country although St. Paul's (in the retail district opposite the Common) is a fine example of early 19th century architecture. It was built as a church and has only become a cathedral within the last 15 years. The most notable church edifice is Trinity church (Episcopal) on Copley square, built in the Romanesque style of southern France. It has a number of large memorial windows by LaFarge, William Morris, Burne Jones and others. Christ church, in the North End, is a fine example of the colonial meeting house, as is the Old South not now used for church purposes. The First church in Roxbury, built in the first decade of the i9th cen tury, is a beautiful example of 17th century Puritan meeting house, that style of architecture surviving at that time. The largest and most magnificent church building is the so-called extension of the First church of Christ (Scientist), built adjoining the original Mother church, still standing and used as an emer gency auditorium.
Local transportation is carried on by the Boston Elevated Railway company by surface tracks, an elevated system and a municipal system of subways, built by the city and leased to the road. The mileage of subway now in operation in Boston is 11.8m., including a tunnel under the harbour to East Boston. This subway system was begun in 1895.
The principal channel of charity is the Public Welfare Society, formerly the Associated Charities, which seeks to unite the charitable efforts of the various societies. Among the large hospitals of Boston are : Massachusetts Gen eral, the Peter Bent Brigham, the City, the Boston Homeopathic, the Robert B. Brigham, the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Forsyth Dental Infirmary.
It is probable that the early Norsemen explored Boston harbour. Capt. John Smith made explorations and mapped the locality in 1614. A party of pros pectors from the Plymouth plantations visited it in 1621. It was known to the white man long before a real settlement was made and there were several individual settlers living within the borders of the present city, William Blaxton (Blackstone) on the Tri mountaine peninsula, Thomas Walford in Charlestown and Sam uel Maverick on Noddle's island. In 1628 the Massachusetts Bay settlement, the first great Puritan settlement, was inaugurated at Salem, under John Endicott as governor. He was joined in a few months by Winthrop, who in 163o with his followers settled tem porarily at Charlestown. Finding some difficulty in water supply, he crossed the river at the invitation of Blaxton and made his settlement in Shawmut, or Trimountaine, as it was variously called. The accepted day from which the city dates its beginning is Sept. 17, 163o when it was ordered by the Court of Assistants that the town should be called Boston after the Boston in Lin colnshire, the leading town of the region from which the princi pal Puritan leaders had come.
For a short time, Boston, Newtowne (Cambridge) and Charles town flourished in about equal degree but the excellent commer cial situation of Boston soon put it to the fore and in 1632 it was made the capital of the Colony. During the first ten years 20,000 settlers came to Massachusetts Bay, most of whom landed in Boston, a great proportion settling there. Cromwell and Hamp den were among those who contemplated settling in New Eng land. Then the political tide turned in England and with the rise of the Puritan Party, the stream of emigration largely subsided.
The Congregational churches, the first in date to flourish in Massachusetts Bay, were the outcome of this Puritan influx. It is to be borne in mind that the Puritans, unlike the Pilgrims of Plymouth, were not Separatists. They were originally reformers within the English Church. But when they came to the new country they found nothing to reform, either in church or govern ment, thus they were forced to create. This brought into being a church almost the duplicate of that of the Separatists in the ad joining Colony, a self-sustaining, self-governing religious unit. The first church of the Boston settlement had been founded be fore they left Charlestown under a covenant adopted by Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, Isaac Johnson and the pastor, John Wilson. It bound the members "to walk in our ways according to the rule of the gospel, and in all sincere conformity to His (Christ's) holy ordinances, and in mutual love and respect to each other, so near as God shall give us grace." Under the intent to reform, quali fied by the conditions of pioneering, there was thus brought about, naturally and peaceably, a great religious revolution. In Bos ton as well as in all the rest of Massachusetts Bay the religious test came to be applied to citizenship. In the General court held in Boston, it was ordered "that for time to come no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." This was at first no very oppressive test, for the early settlers were all of one mind religiously, but it did establish a State church. The church government was liberal. Within this church there was pure democracy. The ministers had great influ ence but they were not entrenched as to powers. A sermon regu larly preceded election, but it was not to be one in which the citizenship were to be told for whom to vote, and when, in an election sermon Rev. John Cotton preached upon the inadvisa bility of superseding experienced officials, Gov. Winthrop was immediately defeated.
The town was governed by the town-meeting system. The citi zens of the town met together at least once a year and usually oftener. There they fixed taxes, made appropriations, voted on municipal improvements and elected the town officers. It was absolutely democratic, the right of vote and speech on any and all matters belonged to every citizen within the assemblage. As the commercial advantages of Boston became known, the importance of the town increased. At the same time the difficulties of carry ing on the Puritan theocratic government became more and more apparent. There was an influx into Boston of immigration which had nothing in common with the spirit of the pioneers. Self betterment, commercial advantages, became its impetus in place of the zeal of the early settlers and their desire to worship freely without touch of rivalry or opposition. Not only did the Puritans oppose sects but they abused individuals. The banishing of Roger Williams (q.v.) and later of Anne Hutchinson (q.v.) are exam ples of personal intolerance.
The witchcraft delusion did not pass Boston by. It was a super stition which put its stamp on many communities in both the old and new worlds. It was to come to its most ghastly American fruition in Salem. In Boston there were two or three cases which culminated in the execution of the persons accused. The notable Boston divine, Cotton Mather, espoused the delusion and argued for it in various polemical books and even went to Salem and at tended an execution, replying to the victim's speech, which had aroused the spectators almost to the point of rescue, and assuring them the sentence was just.
In spite of the rigour of Puritan rule it became increasingly difficult to maintain the theocratic principle in Boston. The col ony as a whole was not discontented, but it was in Boston that the commercial population made itself felt. They were not im pelled by religious reformation but by clear cold figures of pounds and shillings. They included able and intelligent men who did not join a Congregational church and therefore could not achieve the franchise. Nor could they worship in a church of their own faith. A party among the Puritans which espoused the trader's cause, came to be known as the Moderates and were strongly opposed by the radical Theocrats of the unyielding type. The struggle was finally carried to England, where the influence of the trading class brought about the abrogation of the old colonial charter in 1686. This led to the first defiance of authority in the New England Colonies. The abrogation of the charter was succeeded by a brief interval under the presidency of Joseph Dudley, son of one of the original settlers, Gov. Thomas Dudley. Then the new royal governor arrived in the person of Sir Edmund Andros. He was an honest and well-intentioned man but he governed autocrati cally. His administration drove the divided Puritans, radical and moderate, together again. The residents of Boston learning that William of Orange had landed in England, made common cause with that revolution and on April 18, 1689 they rose, seized and deposed Andros, kept him in comparatively easy confinement for nearly a year and sent him back to England.
A new charter was granted by William. It assured the Colonies in their liberties and freedom of worship, but it protected the English churchmen in their right of worship and extended the franchise so that it no longer rested on church membership. The election of governor was never restored to the people while under English rule. Under the Provincial Charter, which approximately began the i8th century, Boston and Massachusetts history are closely interwoven (see MASSACHUSETTS). In the middle of the i8th century, the population was about 15.000, the houses were principally of wood, some of brick and stone. The town main tained a town watch and an organization of fire wards but it suf fered from destructive fires in 1676, 169o, 1711, 1747 and 1760. The town had 17 churches in 175o, the larger number being Congregational, but there were other denominations represented as well, Episcopal, Anabaptist, French Huguenot and Quaker.
Although the religious test had been abolished for suffrage, the town continued to make money grants to the Congregational churches and foster them offici ally.
Revolutionary Period.— The period of the colonial wars quickly merges itself into the days of uncomfortable relations with the mother country, becom ing more and more strained until open revolt merged itself into the American Revolution. (See
