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The area that is now Massachusetts was colonized by English settlers in the early 17th century and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Before that, it was inhabited by a variety of Native American tribes. Massachusetts is named after the Massachusett tribe that inhabited the area of present-day Greater Boston.
The state's 12th congressional district elected the first openly gay member of the United States House of Representatives, Gerry Studds, in 1972 [340] and in 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriage. [59] In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to approve a law that provided for nearly universal healthcare.
The following table is a list of all 50 states and their respective dates of statehood. The first 13 became states in July 1776 upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, and each joined the first Union of states between 1777 and 1781, upon ratifying the Articles of Confederation, its first constitution. [6]
Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1: New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
English settlers adopted the term Massachusett for the name for the people, language, and ultimately as the name of their colony which became the American state of Massachusetts. John Smith first published the term Massachusett in 1616. [3] Narragansett people called the tribe Massachêuck. [3]
Following its approval by convention delegates, it was approved by voters on June 15, 1780 and became effective October 25 of that year. The Massachusetts Constitution was the last to be written among the initial thirteen U.S. states. It was unique in being structured with chapters, sections and articles, as opposed to being a list of provisions.
Commonwealth is a term used by four of the 50 states of the United States in their full official state names: Kentucky, [1] Massachusetts, [2] Pennsylvania, [3] and Virginia. [4] ". Commonwealth" is a traditional English term used to describe a political community as having been founded for the common good, and shares some similarities with the ...
The Province of Massachusetts Bay [1] was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and was based in the merging of several earlier British colonies in New England.