Massachusetts

February 6,1788

Massachusetts is the sixth smallest state. Boston is the capital as well as the largest

city in the state. Boston is a major seaport and air terminal for the U.S.. Massachusetts is a

very mountainous region with the Berkshire Hills and the Taconic Range to the west.

Massachusetts has many islands off its coast One of them is Martha's Vineyards a famous

resort island with many beaches. It is also one of the three main islands off the coast of

Massachusetts. The other two are Elizabeth Islands and Nantucket Island which are also

important resort sites. Massachusetts has about 4,230 miles of rivers some of which carry

water southward to some of Massachusetts's most fertile farmlands. The Connecticut

River is Massachusetts's most important waterway. Some of the main tributaries are the

Deerfield and Westfield Rivers to the west, and the Chicopee and Millers Rivers to the

east. The climate in Massachusetts is colder in the western part of the state than the

eastern part. For instance in January in Pittsfield it could be 30 degrees F. and in Boston it

could be 37degrees F. The lowest record temperature was -34 degrees F. Precipitation

ranges from about 44 inches in the west to 40 inches near the coast. The central part of

the state averages about 49 inches a year.

In about 1629 King Charles I of England granted permission to a group of people

known as the Puritans, to settle and govern an English colony in Massachusetts Bay area.

In 1630 another group of Puritans who had joined another earlier group of settlers in

Salem, left and founded a new settlement in what is now present-day Boston. In 1641 the

Massachusetts Bay Colony wrote the first code of laws known as the Body of Liberties

which helped them gain political freedom and a representative form of government. but

the Puritans would not allow any other religion but their own in the colony. Some of the

colonist didn't like that so they helped organize other New England colonies in their search

for religious freedom. In 1773 angry colonist staged the Boston Tea Party to protest the

high tax prices on tea. The colonist dumped 340 chest of British tea into the Boston

Harbor. This was one of the reason for the Revolutionary War. On February 6,1788

Massachusetts was admitted to the union after they said the Bill of rights would be

included.

Written by:

Kelly Humphries

Hour 3